The other day I noticed there was no traffic police at the
junction and one educated young guy from a reputed IT company, did not hesitate
to take a wrong turn in the middle of red light. The chocolate wrappers or plastic bags are
all over the place, either on road side or in the park, indifferently scattered
by us and our children for “decorative” purposes.
Let’s put all these guys in a developed country.
My friend will always follow lanes, stop for 5 seconds at a
stop sign, and travel more than a mile for a turn or exit. Children and adults
will always be on the lookout for a dust bin and won’t consider littering the
place.
Why the same person is behaving differently in two different
conditions? Is it because of the fact
that enforcement is stricter in developed countries whereas it is almost
non-existent in developing countries? Surprisingly I have observed that some of
my expat colleagues, riding two –wheelers, also match themselves almost equally,
if not more, taking chances with discipline while in India and other developing
countries J.
So am I to conclude that discipline is effective only in the
presence of an external influencing agent like enforcement? Or is it that the spic and
span environment of the place compels us to follow rules?
Why is it so, that the reference points have to be these
external factors and not one’s internal understanding of what is right? While I
took example of traffic rules and littering, these are equally applicable in
almost all walks of life. Earlier I discussed about cost of corruption and
brought up the point of us succumbing to pressure.
The issues of discipline in developed countries are of different type and nature - sometimes at an incomprehensible large scale leading to losses of life. The spate of gun related issues in US schools in last few years really worry me and I am sure people in authority are sincerely trying to find out the reasons for it.
The issues of discipline in developed countries are of different type and nature - sometimes at an incomprehensible large scale leading to losses of life. The spate of gun related issues in US schools in last few years really worry me and I am sure people in authority are sincerely trying to find out the reasons for it.
Without us being self-disciplined at the first place, we
should not think about inculcating discipline amongst our children or can’t
expect people to behave in a disciplined way while police are not around. A
country’s progress is very much dependent on its citizen being self-disciplined
to the core.
And to me, this is an internal attitude and we, educated
class, should be the first to adopt and abide by this all the time for an
example to be set for other sections of the society.
Are we self-disciplined?
