Doing the right thing

Discrimination is one of the basic qualities of any human being, no matter how spiritually or materially successful. It is the ability to seperate the right from the wrong. It does involve judgement but is more than judgement; While judgement may be passive and even sub-conscious, discrimination is of active relevance. For example while we may judge smoking to be harmful (to health) and dangerous (potential physical addiction), some of us (or something in us) may choose to accomodate those occasional few puffs in jovial settings with friends.Here discrimination failed us in that instant when we couldn't connect our judgement with the immediate consequence of our action.
It's extremely important for me to examine this yawning gap between judgemental righteousness and actional discrimination. There are a number of factors that cloud our actional intelligence. Any gap between our judgement and actions is bound to produce 'anxiety'. I dont know if thats the right word to use but its that feeling which robs one's life of its simplicity, and it does so slowly. What is interesting is to see how we try to cope with that feeling.
Rationalisation is one oft used technique.eg when we claim that a certain amount of intoxicant wont extrapolate into the big problem that we know to be the logical conclusion of the actions we seek to rationalise. The garb of rationalisation fades off as soon as we try to be ruthlessly judgemental about someone else's actions.Eg. A teetotaller who is a regular smoker may rationalise his smoking but would twist similar arguments to prove that his abstention from alcohol is the most righteous thing to do.

Victimisation-induced contextual justification is another technique. We see this all the time when constables try to justify bribe taking by pointing to appaling monetary remuneration of the government or when senior officials willingly play their part in the spoilt system of policy making and implementing while blaming it on systematic flaws. An unbaised observer is bound to notice atleast a degree of pain and gloom in the concerned person, feelings that rise from that part of him which wishes for a simpler life, even if it would be more difficult to live. But the lack of courage and commitment that is needed to take right actions and the competence required to live them through can never be justified based on contextual difficulties.

There are other methods which less self-aware people use, eg. Absolute indifference (Not really thinking about it) or complete submission (genuinely believing that they are not capable of doing anything about the issues).
However, somewhere deep inside we are all aware of the fundamental truth that we have chosen to feel this helplessness, sadness or moral stress. We know that we can make tougher choices and live a life of lesser gap between our judgements and our actions. Simply put, we can all do the right thing and we all know it.


This writeup would be futile if i dont take anything out of it. The question is how can i ensure that i do the right thing everytime, all the time? While there can be no way of guaranteeeing the perpetuality of wisdom, it can only happen if we go one step at a time. Taking one right decision at a time and conforming our actions to our judgements. There are a few things that can help us do that- first is the belief that the right thing can be done, whether it is to follow the seemingly impossible procedures of policing or it is about running a district without seeking rent for any public service delivery, One has to believe that the right thing is possible.

Second important step is to device ways to allow the right thing to happen One often thinks that doing what is right sets one apart from the crowd and therefore is in natural confrontation with the entire surrounding setup. Although this does happen and one shouldn't be afraid of such a scenario; this may not be true in most of the cases if we are mentally prepared to device systems and procedures in a way that allows and incentivises the right behaviour. Eg there can be ways to survive in one's legal income if one just allows his expenses to stay in their limits and sensitised policing can be made possible by public appreciation of genuine cases.
The third and most decisive factor is the skill that goes into making all this possible. Self-awareness is needed to understand the causes within us that make us take short cuts, after all there is always something for which someone may feel greedy or there is always an emotion that may allow one to be irrational...it is in our understanding of ourself that can act as an early warning system. Courage and dedication to the cause is another key ingredient, i have felt this in my interactions with some social activists, especially those who have knowingly given up greener pastures for a life of purpose.

Anyways, being humans, we are all somewhere in the journey of self-perfection, exactly where we are and how far we want to go, will determine how much we think about our actions and Act according to our thoughts.

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