Two friends were on a bike early in the morning. They were
rushing towards the Y K M Hospital on the other part of city- their friend from
their native place was battling some head injuries suffered last night in a
drink and drive situation. Though the guy in the driver’s seat stopped at a
traffic signal, he was itching to jump the signal after carefully noticing no
traffic cops on either side of the road, the time being early in the morning.
The friend in the pillion objected to it strongly. An argument ensued. The
driver guy was trying to justify breaking the rule only once for the sake of
their dear friend who is in dire need of blood which can be ensured on them
reaching the hospital early. The other person stood his ground and refused to
ride along and make other arrangements in case the signal is jumped. While it
might not cause any danger to anyone for them to break the rules in that
instance, it would set up a wrong notion and example to everyone else stopping
in the light. Their value system, their education, their upbringing – all would be questioned in people’s mind and someone else somewhere repeating the act
might end up taking someone else’s life. In the middle of the continued
argument, the onward signal became green and they moved on.
Is this not a very common sight for all of us?
All of us, committing a wrong thing or felony only once, will
collectively add up to a large number of such cases putting the society in
danger and push it one more step towards peril.
Many of us have might have taken help of “someone else”, in
exchange of money, having connections internally in different government
departments in the case of getting a driving license or khata transfer (document
for house mutation). It did not take much of our time to get the things done in
the right and just way when we approached the authorities directly helped with
the much simplified processes put in place along with electronic systems. There
are very many good people inside the system who are ready to help when
approached directly. Another very good example is passport application through
the online appointment system. Right now, that is the only system and we all patiently wait and budget our time in the absence of previously available so-called helps.
With all these, the point I am trying to make is we, the
educated lot of the country, need to be sincere and earnest about zero laxity
towards corruption and rules. Even doing
it once does not justify the cause, rather one becomes the part of them who often take law in their own
hand to curb it the way they liked it -in their own ways.
Let us give it a push at our individual level towards taking
our country out of these menaces. In that way, our hands
will be stronger, our voices will be heard with utmost care before we point fingers to others.
