Rotten Corruption

The levels of corrupt thinking and behavior being reached in one sector of the country are so great that the rotten smell has rubbed off on many people, and what hurts most is that it is also rubbing off on children and young people.

I know my article today begins with very harsh words, but there is nothing more disgusting! than seeing someone dirty their hands, their conscience, their soul… with ill-gotten money. The problem is that corruption in society acts like the rotten fruit in the crate, the fruit that rots the others around it.

Every day we see more examples of corruption at every level, and the worst part is that these people are not ashamed to talk about “their business deals” (they call themselves successful), or to live ostentatiously, showing others how they squander their ill-gotten money. And the most incredible thing is that they believe they are honest, irreproachable and “good” people. Incredible!

Oh! And anyone who says anything to them must be envious. What a joke! Who could envy such people? All they inspire is pity.

I think it is better to go hungry than to dirty your hands with corruption; better than staining your name, knowing that the stain is very hard to remove unless you are converted and give back everything! you stole; better than dirtying your conscience, knowing that ill-gotten money has destroyed even lives! Just ask the sick in our country who are dying for lack of medicines or medical equipment, or the mothers whose sons have been killed. All of it the product of corruption.

Pope Francis said that when a person becomes attached to money, he destroys himself and his family. Money, he said, serves to carry forward many good things, much work for the development of humanity; what does harm is greed in our relationship with money: having more, having more, having more. It leads to idolatry and destroys our relationship with others. Not money itself, but the attitude called greed, which also makes us sick, because it makes us think of everything in terms of money. What the Pope describes we are seeing in our beloved country, in people who, to have more and more, are capable of anything, caring nothing for their own families, much less for the country’s future.

But so that this article doesn’t leave a bad taste, I will also tell you that I know many cases of people who are honest, through and through!, who do not let themselves be corrupted, even when they are going through serious problems in their families or their businesses. Some of these people have had the chance to make “the deal of a lifetime” and have not done it.

These people truly believe that honesty is a vital part of building a just and fulfilling society. And there are quite a few like that, although some people consider them “fools.”

Another world into which the rot of corruption is spreading is that of students. We know of well-connected young people who think they can buy others, for whatever they want or need, with a few bolívares or dollars; sadly, that is what they are used to seeing at home.

That is why it is so important for us parents to keep a close eye on our children and on the people around them. Let us teach our children values very clearly and never! allow them to settle for mediocrity, much less to believe that the “smart ones” are those who make easy, fast money, because there is nothing smart about them: they are dead while still alive.

A few days ago I was talking with a high school student who told me a classmate had said it didn’t matter if he failed or repeated a year, because you can make a lot of money without studying. At that moment I felt as if I had gone back in time and saw my grandfather sitting in the armchair in his study, telling me that excellence and honesty are two values that make a man truly Great, values that can bring development and stability to a nation.

I think the moment has come in our beloved Venezuela for those of us who see corruption clearly to launch a kind of campaign to recover the value of honesty. The best place to start is at home. Let us not allow our children, nephews and nieces, grandchildren, friends and others to rot in corruption. Let us raise them by being demanding, not giving in to all their whims, so that they learn what it costs to earn money and learn to live detached from material things, so that greed does not turn them into insatiable beings.

Speak clearly, without mincing words! Tell them, and above all show them by example!, that money is earned by working honestly, and that their work (the work of children and young people) is to study, and that they must study hard to be excellent! Please, let’s not raise mediocre or corrupt children! This is the best way to help keep our beloved Venezuela from continuing to rot with corruption.