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Monday, January 22, 2007

Cheating: Jobs and Relationships

Without going into too much detail, please take the following scenario:

  1. Policemen need to be honest.
  2. The nature of their work exposes them to bribes: opportunities to "cheat."
  3. Their decision to cheat relies partly on the probability of getting caught, the amount of the bribe, and some sense of satisfaction (with themselves, their ethics, their job, etc.).
  4. Many less will cheat with a higher salary, but bribes may just become bigger to compensate.
  5. So, they may be kept from cheating by keeping a significant portion of their compensation out of their pockets until their entire career can be "certified" clean; that is, give a good pension to the deserving, good cop.
Now, it may not seem natural at first, but taking the scenario of a spouse, or commited one into account:

  1. Spouses need to be honest. Love one another. Be trustworthy. All that jazz.
  2. The nature of being a social animal exposes them to plenty of opportunities to "cheat." Define that however you wish.
  3. Their decision to cheat relies partly on the probability of getting caught, the reward for cheating (the attractiveness of the individual, their attentiveness, their gifts, etc.), and some sense of satisfaction (with themselves, their ethics, their relationship, etc.).
  4. Many less will cheat with a better looking mate, a higher combined income, better emotional security... but barring it all they may just cheat with an even further attractive mate. In the end, its all about morals. Why else would super-celebs cheat?
  5. So, then, what keeps one from cheating? A significant portion of compensation must be kept until after a clean record can be proven. Since gifts, income, and even beauty don't make much sense here, I am left an appearantly logical conclusion: give good couples a great reward. God will give us good "pensions" for displaying His love and commitment in our human endeavours on Earth.

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