Corruption Is A Cancer

Corruption is a cancer and here is why I think that.  I've just returned from abroad and something that struck me as particularly unusual with my return is the government agent who spoke with an accent making a rather aggressive insinuation that things would go smoothly if I pass him something.  I don't know if I was shocked or just taken aback some 35 plus years when I first set foot in South East Asia as a young civilian.

Back when I was a young adult and I was traveling throughout the South East Asia region, the first time that I encountered corruption I didn't know how to react, so I did what everyone else around me did, and put some money in my hand and passed it off discreetly to the government official to smooth things along.  It gave me flash backs to an earlier time when I experienced "greasing the palm" with a U.S. Port of Entry official.  I didn't know how to react because it had taken me completely off guard.  Are we so hard up now in America, that some of our government officials have to stoop to soliciting bribes from unsuspecting passengers returning home?  I leave you with an excerpt from the Book of Curthom regarding his views on corruption.

"Corruption challenges the moral fiber of what's right and just.  If, you allow it, tolerate it or simply do nothing, like cancer, corruption ravages the moral compass of the individual, groups, organizations, business and government, collectively, so what becomes of one's society, one's country and one's self?"  Curthom