“I hope I shall have firmness and virtue enough to maintain,
what I consider the most enviable of all titles,
that of an honest man” ~G Washington~
Reputation can be polished through a long time of honest dealings and proper actions. But like time, reputation cannot be run-backward and re-polished… once the taint of impropriety has etched the metal of reputation, even a lifetime of polishing will not bring the shine of virgin veracity.
Don’t trade off your hard-acquired trust for temporary gain…. the money garnered will last only so long… but the trust people misplaced in you will never be fully regained…. “once burned twice shy” goes the old saw….
I am not a watcher of daytime talk shows… but through the years I have followed the careers of a few people such as Oprah and Montel Williams. I know both of them have a huge amount of trust built over decades placed upon their personas by the US people. I have a great deal of respect for both of these performers who have accomplished so much and seem to provide a good service to the people by virtue of the (usually) good advice of their guests.
But sadly, I am seeing Montel Williams pitching a money-lending service on television and the Internet….. being reactively suspicious of such services, I did some looking into the company Montel pitches…. it seems usury to me. Looking the name of the company up along with the word ‘scam’ brought forth a large number of pages complaining of the practices of this company.
This is not a site that deals with scams or money management… there are many who can do splendid at helping people with these matters, people such as www.ripoffreport.com , www.clarkhoward.com or www.suzeorman.com all of whom seem to (generally) give rational advice… my purpose in this missive is to make a statement on trust and integrity… Montel has had the trust of the nation for many years…. his ‘personal brand’ is based on honesty and decent-dealing, but he has violated the trust garnered through decades by placing his huge following and personality behind this scam of a ‘money-lending’ issue.
There will be some who will counter that he is an actor…. he is a paid spokesman for a product, the same as Sally Fields with her Boniva ads…. now, while that statement can be made…. Boniva at least may have some beneficial results.. this usury by the company Montel pitches will only lead most followers to headaches, heartaches and more financial deprivation. The sad thing is the huge number of good-hearted people who will sign up for such a service based only on the personage of Montel. This proves his worth as a spokesman… but that worth is very much diminished for the next company that wishes to have him endorse a product. As for me, the next time I see him pitch anything… my thoughts will be less that it is a ‘quasi-public service’, as much as he is a pitchman who will hawk any product as long as the recompense is high.
Montel, I am sorry that you got roped into this deal…. I really hope you were stoned out of your mind when you signed the papers…. that is the only way I can keep a tiny bit of trust in your integrity… but then I must have worries about your thought-process while stoned.
Johnny Cash… ‘What Is Truth?’
“And in a time of change there comes distorted images,
and uncertain values.
And we all must search,
must search for ‘What is truth?”