17/3/2010
Mahatma Gandhi said "you should not lie", Jesus said "love your neighbour", Buddha said "you should not kill". So and so said "we should always strive for peace" or "you should not steal"
These are obvious moral codes and you will not find any sane human being who will not agree with these. It irritates me when people qualify these statements with the name of an important person or religion. No religion says "do not help poor" "do not speak the truth" "make war not peace" but I so often hear people saying "my religion says "help the poor" "or my religion is peaceful". You will not start lying or stealing or killing someone whether Mahatma Gandhi or the Great Buddha said to the contrary or not.
A fellow traveller said to me that his religion promoted well being of every human being. I said "can you tell me which religion does not claim to do that?" he got angry and further conversation stopped because we both wanted to reach our destination safely.
Why does one feel the need to qualify an obvious statement?
I think people do this mostly to disown the exact opposite deeds in which they or members of their own creed are involved. The CEO of a big arms manufacturing company said that he was a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi who believed in non violence.
A child was caught stealing in the school. The headmaster phoned the mother to discus this. When he explained to her what happened, the mother haughtily said that it could not be true. The headmaster was taken a back and asked why the mother was so convinced. The mother said because her great-great grand father (who happened to be a well known leader in the last century) had said that stealing was a sin.
It may also be that people do this to convince themselves that their religion, or their role model or their religious leader is some how better than others or simply to empower themselves with some false superiority which really does not exist.
Let me know what you think.
NO WIN-NO FEE CULTURE VULTURE
4/03/2010
I have been getting a lot of unsolicited telephone calls from "Mr/Ms unavailable no." They all seem to be interested in my good health and want to get some money for me. Nice people. They not only enquire about my good health but also about my family members, my friends and my neighbours. Here is a short conversation.
Telephone rings……. ……. ………
Me "hello"
The Nice Person On the Unavailable No.( NPU) " hello, Mr. Kumar , we have just come to know that you had an accident recently."
Me "not recently."
NUP "so you did have an accident, a few months ago. "
Me "no, not a few months ago"
NPU "aha! I know it was last year"
Me "no. It was not me last year"
NPU "oh, it was your good wife. We can get you 110% compensation. We won't charge you a single penny"
I am interested at the thought of getting some money. Now that I am on a small pension and it is a terrible winter.
But I am a bit suspicious. Who is this benevolent person taking so much trouble for my family?
But, I do not ask this. Instead I ask "who will be giving me the money, you?
NPU "no, no. The money will come from your neighbour or your doctor or the shop keeper who is responsible for the accident."
Me "but none of them was . My wife just fell down in our garden. She only had a little bruise. And that was ten years ago "
NPU "oh, in that case we will get it from the council. You don't worry about these little things, sir. Leave it to us. We will prove beyond doubt
that any or all of them, at one time or another were certainly responsible for your wife's physical and mental trauma."
Me "my wife's mental condition is very robust. She did not have any mental trauma. "
NPU "do not you worry, our company expert will turn her into a complete mental wreck. "
As I am getting older (euphemism for deaf), I am having this conversation with the speaker on. My wife just heard the last sentence as she came in the study. She cut the telephone off. "so, now I am a mental wreck!"
I had to do a lot of explaining and a bunch of flowers before the dinner was finally served that night.
