Author: Aradhana Ghosh
We bestow laurels upon the ones who can show the desired results, but turn a blind eye to the methods that brought these results to fruition. The avarice of the world we live in has conditioned us to believe that honesty may not always be the best policy. A gifted artist who stays away from the spotlight goes unnoticed. But the untalented acquaintance who plagiarizes her works is put on a pedestal. Average marks scored through perseverance come under scrutiny. But a student who cheats to score good marks is celebrated. Quid pro quo can make you President and bribery can help you retain your power. Unfettered opportunism has relegated righteousness to an archaic belief.
Value education lessons are a staple during our early education so that we grow up to be virtuous people. When the innocence of childhood wears off, people realize that the values they had learnt in the past don’t help them be in the front of the pack. The collective expediency forces these inexperienced souls to lose out on opportunities. Eventually, desperation takes over conscience, and they lose their morals to beat the rat race. Fame, wealth and power are like the three Sirens which enchant unwary people and trap them in an unscrupulous world. Only the ones who are prudent enough to guard themselves against such temptations can stay true to themselves in their quest for success.
This ruthless world has conditioned us to focus on the goal alone rather than diligently prepare for the journey too. The consequences to be faced later are either watered down or blotted out in our minds until they come crashing down upon us. In recent times, our broken moral compasses are being accepted, or willfully ignored, more often than not, so we choose not to repair them. The more we delay tending to these broken morals, a larger part of our identities gets lost. Sooner or later, we will all turn into a group of nondescript beings with only one goal in our minds – to beat the rest.
