I was taught by my father that a man is only as good as his word. I must say he lived it and made dang sure that I did as well. In business I strive to do this to the best of my ability. Over the past decade I have noticed that in business and other transactions that money has become first and everything else second including a mans word. If you do not have a written contract then you just as well have not even bothered making the deal. I wonder if this also correlates to tRdoc post as well. Have you noticed this trend as well or am I just picking the wrong people to deal with?
Recently I have been burned by an older gentleman in a transaction who lied to my face while shaking hands. Then lied to cover the lie that caused the deal to fail.
Honest people are a rare thing now days. Where did the handshake and word of a man go?
Honest people are a rare thing now days. Where did the handshake and word of a man go?
I agree with you guys. There is a lack of backbone in this day and age. The hole its not my fault and blaming someone else when you do something wrong seems to be rampant. The word of a man doesnt seem to mean much to alot nowadays. Contracts an lawyers making a killing off of it. I tend to keep to myself because people for the most part annoy me.
No consequences for your actions... always someone else to blame. These things and more will be the death of our society, if they haven't done it already. 
It is sad you have to have a contract for everything these days.
I was raised as the OP was raised. You say what you mean, do what you say and a promise is a promise which is to be kept. Trust was earned.
Those things were taught to me by parents who grew up in the great depression, lived thru WWII and to whom those behaviors were to be expected. The 60's IMO changed all of that IMO.
But like every thing the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Some still live by those mores, some don't. I'm kind'a with the OP though, society is slipping and those that live with an attitude of your word is your bond are becoming the minority. If I were to hazard a guess as to why I'd have to say it is a result of the rise of moral relativism in our society. Where that belief system came from and how it has become more and more widespread is beyond my ability to fathom but it is the source IMO.
Those things were taught to me by parents who grew up in the great depression, lived thru WWII and to whom those behaviors were to be expected. The 60's IMO changed all of that IMO.
But like every thing the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Some still live by those mores, some don't. I'm kind'a with the OP though, society is slipping and those that live with an attitude of your word is your bond are becoming the minority. If I were to hazard a guess as to why I'd have to say it is a result of the rise of moral relativism in our society. Where that belief system came from and how it has become more and more widespread is beyond my ability to fathom but it is the source IMO.
No consequences for your actions... always someone else to blame. These things and more will be the death of our society, if they haven't done it already.
So....
The decline of our society's moral standards is all the lawyers fault by feeding the very common attitude that it is always someone else's fault with a lawsuit?
I can buy that. Yeah! Works for me.
No, not just lawyers, but there're alot of consequences to the rise of scum-sucking bottom-feeders in our society.
Someone once called it situational ethics... I think that's as good a term as anything.
Someone once called it situational ethics... I think that's as good a term as anything.
My wife doesn't understand that when I give my word I mean it. The problem seems to be there are the few people who abuse their word and make the rest of us paranoid. Case in point: I went to buy a motorcycle from a guy, it came with a junk title (didn't know what that meant at the time), he said I could go to the DMV and they'd change it over (he "called a friend and that's what they told him"). DMV tells me the title means that the bike is literally junk and I should get my money back. He writes a check, check bounces, he plays games, I get the sheriff's dept. involved, and they do nothing so he's still out there selling and lying about things. I used to take people at their word but after that I don't take any chances.
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