A Response to a Philosophical Inquiry, How Being Deceitful Aided in the 2008 Financial Crisis

The Situation

The other day, I was asked to give my input into a situation that surrounds a woman that is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, the disease to which disables the ability to possess contestant and reliable memory (for privacy purposes well call her Sue). A person with this condition could very well forget who they were married to, who their children were, and even who they are if the disorder depends to catastrophic levels. Well, Sue is a supposed multi-millionaire and is married to a man (well call him John) who is engaged in an active relationship with a mistress (well call her Tanya) on the side during this whole ordeal. I was then told that John, Sue, and Tanya all know of each other and all express consent with this arrangement, so much so that they all converse together often, and Tanya even assists in the medical needs of Sue. At this point the question was posed to me weather or not I thought that this behavior was acceptable? And does it matter that the Sue wants her husband to be “happy”?

In attempting to respond to this query of what is, in better respects, a philosophical conundrum; This is merely just my opinion and not meant to be the authoritarian rule of thumb to this situation or any others like it. So, by no means do not take it to heart as this is but one’s estimation on the matter that is based on prior experiences and knowledge.

To the situation at hand. The question is, do you feel that this form of behavior is acceptable, even if Sue is accepting of the conditions in attempts to promote her husband’s happiness. In short, I do not feel that this manner of promiscuous unfaithfulness to be acceptable for marital couples to engage in. The reason for this goes back to the concepts of honor, vows, love and respect. I will preface this response by first defining the terms, as I believe in this day-in-age that we have not a firm grip as to the meaning of these concepts.

Defining Terms

Honor/ Respect- To regard with great respect, which is a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something that is provoked by their abilities, qualities, or achievements. Another definition means to adhere to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct. In terms of honoring your spouse, I would say that honoring them with your actions is just as important as proclaiming it to them in speech and written format. Whereas, in many facets of society today we opt to simply accept the verbal declaration without the formulation of the authentication process that comes in verifying weather or not the individual is going to uphold their proclaimed assertion to love or not. Which depending on how they define the parameters of what it means to “love” will inevitable dictate their actions in carrying that creed out. So, be sure to ask plenty of questions in how they define key concepts and take your time to get to know the individual before jumping on their boat to the Bahamas. Because if it so happens that you land on a bad captain, you run the risk of getting deserted on the islands of despair and hopelessness.

Vow- Is a solemn promise – dedicated – to which a person is obligated to keep and uphold certain prearranged terms of provisions. For example, if an individual(s) were NOT upholding their prearranged provisions, it would be like a publicly traded company that sells shares of stock to the public and their employees, were, at the same time lying on their financial reports to make it seem that the conditions of the business were favorable and making profit. However, after shareholders and thousands of employees buy into the stock market in the sum of billions of dollars, the company files for bankruptcy leaving investors and employees without and lost in the process. This would be a major form of dishonesty and a breach of trust by the company that situated themselves to seem honorable and advantageous. By the way, this happened back in the early 2000s by companies such as Enron and WorldCom; and many economists suggest that due to the dishonesty of major corporate entities like this, led to the financial crisis of 2008 (Portfolio, 2017).

Likewise, in the wedding ceremony when the bride and groom come together and say their vows to one another, it’s not just to sound pretty and majestic. They are mending a verbal contract of trust to each other, a promise, to be devoted to each other; no matter if they are on the high rise of life, or even in the midst of detrimental circumstances. They can trust that vow their significant other made to them can be trusted when the going gets tough, that they will be by their side fully devoted to the end. That they, will take you, to be their lawfully wedded other, to have and to hold, from THIS day forward, for better, OR for worse, for richer, OR for poorer, IN sickness and in health, UNTIL death do you part. However, the sad reality is, that people today simply do not take seriously their promises in any capacity let alone their significant other; they rack up debt only to NOT pay it back, they sign business contracts with no intention to deliver the results, and they even opt out of caring for their aging parents and end up dumping them in some backwoods nursing home to wait out their last days. I understandably sympathize with individuals who want a prenup arrangement before signing on with someone they don’t truly know. Because it’s scary not knowing what it is that individual will do 2, 5, or even 10 years from now. When someone makes a promise, it’s so post to mean something; and when we exist in a world where we live in a constant state of untrustworthiness, what are we to do? Similar to the financial crisis of 2008, when we can’t trust the market, buyers will pull back in reserve from inputting their cash into the markets and it eventually puts a choke hold on cash flow. When we can’t trust others to fulfill their end of a relational partnership (marriage, friends, family, etc.), it puts a choke on emotional and congruence flow for communities to thrive and grow together. However, I think I know of an antidote to this chaos.

Love- One might argue that love is an intense feeling of affection, or a great interest and pleasure in something. To which I would say yes, to some degree that is true. But, I do not think those definitions completely encompasses all parameters on what it means to love another to the point of self-sacrifice. Because one could have deep feelings for his/her favorite ball team, but they absolutely will not go as far to express those feelings if it requires them to accept detrimental circumstances. Nor do I think someone that posses a great pleasure of a hobby find it necessary to ruin themselves to express their avid zeal for their particular sport. However, I believe that love can better be defined as possessing a vested interest in the better well-being of another. Because, its just as if you were investing monetary capital into a company’s stock, at that point you would have a vested interest in seeing them succeed, otherwise you would lose your money. In the same respects we invest emotional capital into the company of others because, we want to see them succeed. Although, unlike the stock market where we would receive financial dividends as reward if the company turns a profit. However, we do receive personal satisfaction dividends when those that we have been investing in with our time, money, and emotional energy turn a profit of personal success either with their family, careers, or even community in the realm of accomplishments. In the end, this concept could be best summarized as, “loving your neighbor as yourself”. Because if you emphasize the same level of commitment, intentionality, and zeal for others just as you do for yourself, not only are you improving those relationships, you are effectively improving the world one person at a time. That is what I believe expresses love, to place the other in the same respects as you, if not greater.

The Conclusion

It has always been my understanding that one does not engage in behavior that is both disrespectful to your significant other and demining to their character. That is what I feel is the underlining premise of actions of this scenario. Even if Sue hypothetically “agrees” with these terms of conduct in hopes to keep her husband “happy”, being that the motives are good, it still does not validate the proceedings actions. Because, in the grand scheme of things we should not measure actions and motivations exclusively based on the level of “happiness” something produces – though being happy is a major motivator – It also comes down to morals and doing what is right. Yes, it might make you “feel” happier to acquire multiple bed partners, but is it right to do so? Is it right to violate the vow you once held dearly before detrimental circumstances befell your relationship? In attempting to converse with situations as this, I always go back to one statement that I believe gets to the heart of bringing clarity to this. That is, “Do unto others, as you, would have them do unto you”. With this frame of mind, you could easily solve multiple problems that have stumped not only our nations relational couples (married, engaged, boyfriend/ girlfriend, etc.) but also law makers and political representatives. If you would want your spouse, the one that you have loved dearly for years and made a solemn vow to have and to hold in sickness and health, NOT to betray you in the arms of another,giving away to  them all your affections; then don’t advocate or accept those scenarios yourself in the arms of a mistress. But then again, in attempting to live out this creed of “loving others as yourself” it takes both empathy and emotional intelligence to effectively live it out. Because, if one does not have the cognitive faculties to register other’s feelings in correlation to one’s actions, they more than likely will not be able to effectively administer the proper actions to alleviate the inappropriate activity.

In the end, we as a society all need to honor the vows and arrangements that we agree to, this includes our business contracts,  marital engagements, and word of mouth deals. If you said yes to something, do it, and if it ends up hurting you at the end of the deal then think twice next time before saying yes.      

References

Portfolio, M. (2017). Financial Statement Fraud in Enron, WorldCom Scandals, Fraud Motivation Triangle And The SOX Act 2002. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@MontangeUpdate/financial-statement-fraud-in-enron-worldcom-scandals-fraud-motivation-triangle-and-the-sox-act-f055a507f89