Honesty is honored in - of all places - Argentina...!

this is the kind of good news i'd like to see a LOT more of, particularly in a place like argentina where, as the article mentions, corruption is a national epidemic...

It was a gesture which became instant headline in a country where corruption is considered a national plague.

Two public relations young fellows set up a website in his honour calling for gestures of gratitude for what is seen as an extraordinary act of honesty. Last weekend the sum was reached according to the site.

Santiago Gori, a taxi driver from the city of La Plata, 60 kilometres south of Buenos Aires found the money after driving an elderly couple. They only went a short distance but when he dropped them off, they left a bag in the back of his taxi.

A few days later he managed to locate his passengers again and he returned the bag. For Argentines used to corruption at all levels of society, this was an extraordinary story.

It is estimated 55.000 people visited the site and left hundreds of rewards and messages for Gori.

[...]

As happened a month ago when 100.000 people spontaneously took to the streets for the final farewell to former President Raul Alfonsin, the architect of the transition to democracy, “the Argentines again came out in mass to honour an honest man”, said Gori.

“Maybe it’s a new message for the political establishment when we are a month away from mid term elections”, added the publicist.

“If our politicians had 10% of Gori’s honesty, what a great country we could be”, said one of the contributors who invited the taxi driver out for lunch.

[...]

For his part, Mr Gori seemed a bit bemused. He said he only did what had to be done, and that he does not quite know what to do with all the things he has been offered.

[...]

Argentina rates 109 in the International Transparency 2008 list, while its neighbours Chile and Uruguay are placed in position 23, the least corrupt countries of Latinamerica.

corruption saps the energy right out of a society... it's a motivation killer because you know that, no matter what you do or how much you want to do the right thing, it won't matter because somebody is always there forking out cash to get ahead of you in line... it's pathetic... afghanistan is the same way... there's always somebody there with his hand out and, if you don't pay up, you can kiss whatever it is that you want to get done bye-bye...

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