My last column.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat
• Position: On MANAGEMENT - Column

Somebody asked me what I would write about if this were my last column.

This is what it might be.

I will want to make the point that despite the likes of Eliot Spitzer, Bill Clinton, Joe Nacchio and Ken Lay, the world is full of people who are worth knowing, even worth emulating. Great partners and great customers alike abound. To find them you've just got to look for them and relate to them.

My business partner and I were having lunch in a fine restaurant along a beautiful beach in La Cieba, Honduras. Along came a mutual business friend with his two kids--two lovely young girls, one about 5 and the other about 8. We exchanged warm greetings with our friend, and then he said to his daughters, "Girls, these are my good friends from the U.S." These beautiful young ladies came over and gave me a hug, and the older of the two even gave me a peck on the cheek.

I was shocked because in this country people don't teach their kids to do stuff like this anymore. Actually our kids are taught to shy away from strangers, to not trust anyone. Who knows what evil lurks ...

Conditioned by TV news coverage, we teach our kids that most of the world we live in is very dangerous. The news is 95 percent crime, mayhem, murder, infidelity. Lying, cheating, whoring, stealing--it seems sometimes that everyone is just out for themselves. But the real truth I'd argue is that your TV doesn't portray nearly a real or fair view of the world.

I would try to write something to young people, kids in college or high school. I would try to say something about the incredible buildup in the newspapers, magazines and TV of evidence supporting the idea that there can't be an honest politician or businessman anywhere on Earth. If all you did was read the paper and watch TV, you would think there were no faithful husbands (or wives), no politicians who don't steal, no businesses that aren't trying to shortchange the customer and take millions for...