Corruption in this day an age

The world is a corrupt place, there is really no doubt about that at this point. The only difference is the extent to which it is permitted, I’ve always known that so it doesn’t surprise me anymore, where the difference really comes in is knowing just how far its extends. For developed countries, it’s mostly found at high levels of the society, with the politicians and the ruling class, while everybody else is kept in this web of lies where they believe there is justice (at least most of the time). But in underdeveloped countries, the corruption is much more permissible, with even the traffic police being openly corrupt, and the small businesses being corrupt.

It’s gotten to the point where we’ve found alternative names for it which make it much more subtle. In Cameroon, where I come from, its called “Tchoko” and basically you can expect anybody from whom you request a service. Especially civil servants, when you require a service they are the only person capable of giving it to you.

The problem with corruption is that it takes away our pride, we know that it's not because we earned it but rather because we blackmailed our way to that achievement that's why nobody can take pride in being corrupt. Certainly you’ll have a lot of achievements and earn much, but you can’t really brag about something you obtained through coercion. There is a lot of value through merit. When you obtain something you’ve merited, everybody in society is going to be much more willing and accepting of you. Your ego is boosted, and you feel a huge sense of pride for what you did.

The downsides

Vices in humans is nothing new, so I won’t sit here and try to tell you that we can get rid of corruption because I know It's something practically impossible to do, mostly because it actually serves a purpose. The only reason it's problematic is that it has become so widespread that it has started becoming toxic for the countries themselves, it hurts millions of persons and effectively keeps millions of others in a state of extreme poverty. You can imagine the thousands of children who stay uneducated simply because the person in charge of providing them that education wanted a new car or a new house. Lets not even talk about all of the projects which were supposed to benefit society like new roads, new companies etc which all came to a halt simply because those in charge of the project wanted a part of the pie. I don’t want to enter a pointless rant, I think you get the point.

How it affects you

Corruption affects the average person only to the extent where he is willing to participate in it. This still remains something which is looked negatively by society and even though it might be common, it's still popularly disliked. This means that corrupt people can’t do it in the open and most certainly can’t brag about it. Depending on who you are, the principles you hold and the values you were taught, you have the option to choose whether you want to be a part of it all or not. At some point you’ll come across it, and you’ll have to decide whether upholding your principles is more important than the quick cash you can make over a corrupt deal.

Corruption makes society an unfair place, and we are not all equal.

Some people have a huge head start simply based on the family they are born in, while others are doomed to fail no matter how much hard work they put into it. One illusion you should remove from your mind is thinking that the world is a fair place, where you will be rewarded based on the efforts you put in and all the actions of your own. Sometimes, your fate has already been decided even before you are born.

Hard work is the answer

I’ll be honest, the situation really looks terrible, you are competing against persons who have an unfair advantage against you. They have parents in the right spots of influence, they all have the right information and the power to act on them, all you have is your determination. Fortunately there is still something which allows us to rise despite all the unfairness which reigns in the world and thats simply “Hard work”. You can think of it like the debate between natural talent and hard work, even if you are born without talent, outside the right family or without any connections, you can work very hard to achieve the same things as a person who was born with all these things. Some people are born smart, but others can learn how to become just as smart, the fact is that you’ll have to work twice if not 10x as hard to achieve the same results.

To do so will be an uphill battle you can only achieve with the right dedication, motivation, and determination. Hard work is the way we can make this world fair.

Conclusion

We are born thinking the world is fair, and the media has a vested interested in making us think it's this way, but it's far from being so, the earlier you realize that the better the actions you’ll take. You don’t need to become part of the corrupt system to thrive, but with the right amount of information and hard work, you can accomplish just as much if not more than all those in this corrupt system.

Thanks for reading ☺️