The Green Light on Corruption

One of the major topics in the country up for discussion is the plight of corruption. Starting with the Anna Hazare campaign to the millions who collaborated and supported him in the movement, the count of the people who want to put an end to the unwanted plague is on the rise. Everybody wants to live in a country where you don’t have to pay ten different people ten different times to get government work done. Everybody is sick of politicians scamming and stealing from every single budget that is financed to an operation.

But is the government only to blame? Or are we too?

Only today, while commuting by rickshaw, I was gazing out and happened to see a peculiar incident (actually, it is a very common incident but I’ll tell you why it’s peculiar later). A traffic policeman was standing at a car’s door, arguing with the driver. The next second, the policeman calms down. The second after that, he nonchalantly looks away while slipping his hand inside the window and the driver slipped him money.

Like I said, it’s a common incident. But, it’s peculiar because I’d seen this same guy (the driver) propagating the Anna Hazare campaign at the railway station a few months ago.

Is corruption bad only when it’s done by the government? Is the common man supposed to be exempted from punishment if he does the same thing? Sure, the driver probably wanted to save his time, but does that mean he’s allowed to not abide the laws?

What about donations in college seats? Sure, the college is out to make money and they are at fault, but they’re not the only ones! It’s we who encourage them to continue taking donations! It is we who give the green light on the flow of greens!

I touched on this issue because I think my generation is at the point where we can decide whether or not to follow the bad examples set by the previous generations and try to make this world better. So, sometimes we’ll end up paying hefty fines. But at least, we own up to our mistakes. Sometimes, we may not get what we want. But that’ll only happen because there’s something else waiting for us that is better for us. And most importantly, we’ll be people with clean consciences and strong wills, which is something that money will never be able to buy. And the things that money can never buy are the things truly worth having.