I hope I got your attention, but before making any comments or making any judgements, please go through my post. The Anti-corruption movement has been the flavor of the media for almost two years now and I am bit late with this post.
And all this time, I could not find myself voicing the support for the movement. As I followed the movement in news channels and observed the same in my surroundings, I could not help but notice the irony and hypocrisy of the people voicing their support. It rather seemed that people wanted to vent the frustrations of their failures through this movement rather fighting for the real cause. I doubted if all these people really care about corruption. There were people ranting pro-Anna slogans but did not know why they were doing so.
This observation amplified my own hypocrisy whenever I felt an inclination to voice my support for the movement. I started looking within myself to find if I had any moral right to question anyone else. I had been mostly corruption free but I still did not feel confident about advocating for this movement.
I realized I was never in a situation which required me to be corrupt. Then I started thinking what if I were in the situation. I wondered how would I respond to such a situation. I racked my brains to visualize such a situation so that I could connect well with this anti-corruption drive. I did not have to go far as I remembered myself in the exam hall.
I avoided cheating in the exams not because I was idealistic but I must admit I feared being caught. I always had the inclination to cheat just to out-score the competition. I remember when I was in school, I was appearing for my mathematics examination and had attempted confidently for 96 marks. I was stuck on a 4 marks question as I could not remember a theorem. I asked my friend sitting in front of me if he knew the answer. He replied in affirmative and showed me his paper. Just then the invigilator came by and slapped my friend so hard that I could still hear the slap ringing in my ears whenever I feel like cheating. When the results were out, I scored 100 and my friend had scored only 70. I felt ashamed and disgusted with myself. I vowed never to cheat but the mind is like a dog's tail. It can't be straight for too long. I myself did cheat and have helped others cheat sometimes when the environment was conducive to do so.
And so any moral authority or right to question anyone on cheating or corruption just falls flat. I realized that its not enough to not act corrupt but I should never have any intention or even a slightest inclination of being corrupt. To reach this level of awareness, its not enough to have strong resolution but I also need to put in effort to condition my mind and purify my intentions. I have given myself a year to test if I can be true to myself and remain corruption free. If I fail, this extends by another year and I would never question anyone on corruption till I pass my own test.
And all this time, I could not find myself voicing the support for the movement. As I followed the movement in news channels and observed the same in my surroundings, I could not help but notice the irony and hypocrisy of the people voicing their support. It rather seemed that people wanted to vent the frustrations of their failures through this movement rather fighting for the real cause. I doubted if all these people really care about corruption. There were people ranting pro-Anna slogans but did not know why they were doing so.
This observation amplified my own hypocrisy whenever I felt an inclination to voice my support for the movement. I started looking within myself to find if I had any moral right to question anyone else. I had been mostly corruption free but I still did not feel confident about advocating for this movement.
I realized I was never in a situation which required me to be corrupt. Then I started thinking what if I were in the situation. I wondered how would I respond to such a situation. I racked my brains to visualize such a situation so that I could connect well with this anti-corruption drive. I did not have to go far as I remembered myself in the exam hall.
I avoided cheating in the exams not because I was idealistic but I must admit I feared being caught. I always had the inclination to cheat just to out-score the competition. I remember when I was in school, I was appearing for my mathematics examination and had attempted confidently for 96 marks. I was stuck on a 4 marks question as I could not remember a theorem. I asked my friend sitting in front of me if he knew the answer. He replied in affirmative and showed me his paper. Just then the invigilator came by and slapped my friend so hard that I could still hear the slap ringing in my ears whenever I feel like cheating. When the results were out, I scored 100 and my friend had scored only 70. I felt ashamed and disgusted with myself. I vowed never to cheat but the mind is like a dog's tail. It can't be straight for too long. I myself did cheat and have helped others cheat sometimes when the environment was conducive to do so.
And so any moral authority or right to question anyone on cheating or corruption just falls flat. I realized that its not enough to not act corrupt but I should never have any intention or even a slightest inclination of being corrupt. To reach this level of awareness, its not enough to have strong resolution but I also need to put in effort to condition my mind and purify my intentions. I have given myself a year to test if I can be true to myself and remain corruption free. If I fail, this extends by another year and I would never question anyone on corruption till I pass my own test.
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5 comments:
This logic is flawed - "If i am not perfect, how on earth shall i seek perfection from others."
I agree that most if not all of us are corrupt or corruptible to a certain extent. But that doesn't imply that we should wait for ourselves to become absolutely spotless before voicing anti-corruption sentiments.
Actually both the actions should be pursued in parallel - "Cleansing self from corruption" and "Demanding a corruption free society and government".
I agree that both things can go in parallel, but the fight would soon lose steam. When you are armored with the sword of moral authority the punch is far more stronger. The knockout effect is far more effective. I don't suggest that we need to wait for eternity but rather hasten our own purification.
y jus hasten our own purification.....hasten both - the purification within and the purification outside simultaneously.....agreed that the blow would be more damaging when it comes from a flawless hand, but tht doesn't mean one shouldn't support anti corruption till one sees oneself as pure
Right now I can only support as word of mouth or share on social media and I still can be questioned about my own integrity. And the very notion that the movement is being supported by someone who is not clean would make the movement weak. If I am confident of myself and my integrity, I would just not support but would rather drive the movement.
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