DOES THIS STRIKE A CHORD SOMEWHERE?

 

That dishonesty and prayers coexist in places of worship, seems routine to us. We are confronted with allegations that the very people entrusted with serving the religious organisation may have misappropriated  its assets. This is not a routine scam on the generally accepted morality scale that come to light every day. 

Now corruption is no longer a moral failure. It is a life skill. To many, religiosity and morality are one and the same.  They are not. As it is,.a person can perform elaborate rituals,donate generously, attend all functions and still behave dishonestly in everyday life. 

Ethics has no place here. Lack of integrity is compensated by liberal donations, even as the money flows in through dishonest means. Organisations are helmed by the greedy lacking character. The existence of corruption elsewhere does not justify corruption within an organisation by insiders entrusted with serving it. 

The lesson is that no institution should rely solely on trust. When the Bank of Cochin Ltd was taken over by State Bank of India, the primary lesson taught to the former's employees who were absorbed by the latter was 'never conduct your work on trust alone.' 

It is a lesson for life. 

One of the recurring mistakes today is that we assume certain people who lead us  are beyond temptation. Human beings are human beings. Accountability has to matter. If not, any group with enough money, influence and freedom from scrutiny would implode the system. For the majority, when they indulge in corruption, it is plausible, not shocking.

We have become a society that's become comfortable looking the other way. When the leaders damage the organisation through corruption and dishonesty, the long hours they spend over prayers and rituals become worthless. What matters is how honestly you conduct yourself when nobody is watching and what choices you make when wrongdoing would be the easiest.