Value has a value only when its value is valued!

Today, sitting alone in one corner of the room, I start writing after a sabbatical. Quite, deep in my thoughts, I was trying to recall all those things that I saw, heard and read. It was a normal day as usual.

Yeah, it was very convenient for me to say it was a normal day , but then , suddenly the TOI web page flashed in front of me and I could only remember the word “RAPE “ very distinctly and clearly. Man it was a day; out of 4 quadrants of the webpage, three were filled with news of RAPE incidents across each corner of the country and the one left was filled with Scams.

Just when we feel everything is normal, suddenly, some news erupts out of nowhere creating tremendous sense of malaise. All that we hear today is either heinous crimes or Scams. Ethics, values, integrity – all are mere words today. We are missing the very essence of our lives. The entire culture has changed. Do we lack right people to lead this country?

Long back people lived in groups that eventually got bigger and bigger in size. This larger mass now mandated a leader to guide them, motivate them- bind them together. The leader also made sure his followers were happy and enjoyed all their rights. Now, here, I would like to turn your focus towards that Leader, who may have sacrificed all his life to make his people happy and contended. The Leader will always be followed and so would be his virtues- good or bad. He can be Raju of Satyam or he can be the ever benevolent JRD. Both were great leaders of their time but the difference was in their virtues and values that they brought into the society.

I remember the climax of the movie " The Last Time" wherein big boss throws a party after devastating the Leader in his competitive firm resulting in its complete debacle. He explains by using “Culling of Animals“ as metaphor. Elephants usually eat a lot of vegetation and leave very little for humans to survive in that area. The herd of elephants is lead by one of the strongest and most intelligent of the lot. The leader guides them stay organized and look for vegetation. Soon, people realized this and they took control over the Leader that way the entire herd goes bonkers –panic stricken with no one to guide. This is called Culling of animals. Morale of the story: The Leader makes it or breaks it !

Leaders today have to tone the organization; whether it is a company, institution or country. The endeavor has to be infusing transparency, trust and accountability.

The organizations today need to have three fold bottom lines, Values being one of the vitals along with profitability and protecting the environment. The employees should be encouraged to score in their value quotient and must be awarded with motivational if not monetary incentive. This could just be a start. Every Manager, every politician, every parent, every teacher, every lawmaker and every responsible citizen has to sow the seeds of integrity, ethics and high moral standards and nurture it for its lifetime to offer this society the fruits of humility and truthfulness. This is a long process but will fructify to its highest standards one day.

Only thought resonating in my heart, conflicting with my mind- “If I choose to be Ethical, I will be!”