The sin of ingratitude

Oct 12, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – Mark Twain is reported to have said that if you pick up a starving dog and feed him, he will not bite you. And this is the principal difference between a dog and a man. It has also been said that the sin of ingratitude is more serious than the sin of revenue because in the latter you are repaying evil with evil but with ingratitude you are repaying good with bad.

There are persons in society who come to you with the said stories. You feel sorry for them and you lend a helping hand to them. Then they turn around and stab you in the back.

How many persons have not been robbed or hurt or killed by those to whom they were once very kind to? How many times have good deeds not been repaid with ingratitude?

One of the secrets of highly successful persons is the culture of helping others. If you look at the lives of most successful persons, you will find that many of them lend more than a helping hand to persons in need; many of them often help people; many of them are extremely kind.

Yet for some inexplicable reason, these persons’ kindness is repaid with ingratitude. This is one of the banes of society.

One of the sad things in life is when a man comes to you and begs you for a job. Or his or her parents may come and ask you to give, him or her, a head start in life. Instead of being repaid with gratitude and loyalty, sometimes this same employee turns around and robs you and even worse may even physically harm you.

It is said that these days you have to be careful about the individuals you employ. But how careful can you be? You give someone a break in life, you help them out in difficult times and this same persons turns around and becomes like snake ready to poison you.

Loyal employees are hard to find these days. You have to employ a watchman and then a watchman to watch the watchman. No wonder so many businesses are uncompetitive in Guyana.

One of the reasons why businesses are so uncompetitive in Guyana, why prices are often so high, is because of the dishonesty by employees. Businesses suffer immense losses because of dishonesty. Every businessperson in Guyana has to cater for the fact that at some time or the other, some of your employees are going to steal from you. Losses of this kind have to be factored into your business and this is what at times keeps prices high.

It is not always easy to recover from losses. Sometimes, the assets stolen from you are of such magnitude that you cannot recover. Your life and that of your family is completely destroyed because of the dishonest act of employees. How many of us have not known of someone whose life was destroyed because of the dishonesty of persons whom they trusted and to whom they were generous?

Sometimes, it is your own family member who robs you. That is one of the unkindest cuts of all; to be robbed by your own family member. Who can forget King Lear’s warning that: “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is, to have a thankless child.”

How do you guard against the dishonest worker? It seems as if no amount of screening will totally insulate you from a dishonest employee. You can do background checks, ask for the references and even administer lie-detection tests. Those will not shield you totally from a dishonest employee.

You trust someone with taking your monies to the bank. One day they come and say how they were robbed going to the bank. When the truth comes out, it was no robbery by a stranger. Instead you find out that they were part of the act.

What sort of precautions can you take? If workers are not loyal to their employers, if they come into your business with the aim of not only learning more about the job but also learning more about where you have your money, then what is going to happen? How can you protect yourself against dishonesty?

You are working hard to make yourself successful and at the same time there are others who are busy plotting to rob you of your hard earned money? Life is such a strange paradox. You would have felt that the dog would never bite the hands that feed it. But when it comes to human beings, you will find some individuals who would steal from their own mothers.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

Latest News

The sin of ingratitude

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 7th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Imlach masterclass 126, Alimohamed 66-ball 77, give Harpy Eagles life...

Fraser rebounds well, as Arjoon keeps perfect...

Guyana to host historic 3×3 Quest Tournament

Quarter-Finals in Mashramani Street Football...

Vurlon Mills Football Academy launches KFC...

DEMLIFE Golf Tournament tees off today at LGC

Features/Columnists

Due diligence on investments must become a priority

OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus

Awestruck and starstruck with a twist

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

The sin of ingratitude

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 7th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]