The Roots of Corruption by Ratnadeep Ray

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Perspective
The Roots of Corruption
by Ratnadeep Ray

It is said, �two swords cannot stay in one scabbard�, and if such people come across their counterparts, and then a war erupts. Politicians have ego clashes and in due course they forget their duties and this leads to negative impact.

After midst of Mumbai blasts, I started wondering what the reason behind such violence and corruption in the world was. After lot of discussions and introspection, I found the roads which lead to this sin. Sometimes, we travel on them due to our natural instinct and sometimes deliberately. Now let us study four such roads that lead to corruption.

First cause is �greed�.

Sometimes, people feel they were born to rule. In trying to fulfill this dream they like to dominate over others. But as the idiom says, �two swords cannot stay in one scabbard�, and if such people come across their counterparts, and then a war erupts.

Let us study the example of Dr. Octopus in Spiderman comics. He had the dream (greed) of ruling the world by bringing the whole solar energy within his reach but after failing in his mission he tries to destroy the world. After meeting Spiderman, he becomes even more furious and his greed multiplies.

In the modern world, such events are not uncommon. Political parties have ego clashes and in due course they forget their duty of serving the nation and this leads to violence.

Another factor that causes corruption is �self-doubt�.

Sometimes, a person who is rising in his career ladder comes across competition. Then, he starts doubting himself and feels insecure and starts burning in the fire of jealousy. He starts adopting unfair means to achieve his goals. This leads to a clash. Consider the epic, Mahabharata. When Duryadhana realized that Pandavas were getting more love and respect from others, he started indulging in unfair means against the Pandavas and plotted many evil plans to kill them.

The third factor that is responsible for corruption is sudden rise to �power�.

A person who has been living in poverty suddenly becomes rich. As a result he may start misusing his powers due to lack of experience and thus, knowingly or unknowingly he hurts many around him. When I watched the film, �Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman� starring Shah Rukh Khan, I realized this factor. Without having enough experience one should not be given too many powers.

The fourth factor leading to corruption is �impatience�.

Sometimes, we become too anxious or restless to reach our goal. We try to conquer the whole world within few seconds. This is really dangerous in case of people holding important posts. As conquering the world within few seconds is very difficult, so it leads to failures. If the person suffering failure is mentally weak, it may shatter him and thus, due to frustration he may take some violent steps. In Spiderman 2, we saw the way Dr. Octopus reacted after his failed attempt. Had he shown the patience and then made another attempt, he might have succeeded in his mission and thus, could have avoided all the evil he triggered.

So to overcome these causes, people, especially weak-minded, must learn to control the emotions and the parents must give their children informal education regarding these issues. Every child is born pure and innocent. Yet some of them turn out to be criminals. So it is up to the parents to guide their children on the right path.

December 14, 2008

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