The sweet fruit of corruption

My dear Billy, There is always a right way and a wrong way, and the wrong way always seems the more reasonable and profitable. This week’s title is borrowed from the title of a Hollywood film of my youth days. As you know, Hollywood churns out movies in English, but by the time these reach our shores, they get defiled, corrupted and transformed into French and the French title of that Hollywood flick was “Les Incorruptibles” (The Incorruptible). I don’t remember a single inch of the film, my dear Billy, but the title is evocative enough to occupy a little space in my memory for a lifetime. The current government had grabbed power on the basis and promise that it would clean the country of all its malpractices. But alas! It would be useful to remind you here, my dear Billy, that a survey carried out a few years ago yielded one astounding truth: a sizable percentage of young people in our blessed country were prepared to offer bribes in order to obtain certain benefits, especially jobs. You see, there are people who can resist everything except temptation. The word “corrupt” derives from the Latin “corrumpere”, meaning to bribe, and its general meaning among others, is to debauch, entice, lure, pervert, to be willing to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain. Those are dictionary definitions. As far back as human memory can rewind, the first known instance of corruption dates back to Adam and Eve, the very first man and woman on earth, and the first corrupter was no less a being than Satan himself. It is not my intention here to recount that Bible story again, my dear Billy, but it might not be out of place to reflect that Satan is present wherever and whenever an act of corruption is being perpetrated. Succeeding governments have for eons been blaming their predecessors of being corrupt. The fact of the matter, however, is that corruption has been around in varying degrees ever since the beginning of time and is likely to prevail from here to eternity. You will always find people climbing the ladder of success by indulging in wrongdoing after wrongdoing. To err is human, no doubt, but in some people it feels divine. Corruption fills the air, it comes with our daily bread; it has today become a way of life. Rabid materialism, the perilous pursuit of wealth, are wrecking and engulfing humanity. Man has acquired the false perception that progress can only be measured by the yardstick of wealth. Man is engaged in an eternal quest for an elusive something which he hopes will bring him full happiness, infinite bliss. Greed and the spirit of acquisitiveness, and lust and hunger for power have relied on massive corruption for their fulfillment. This has resulted in great misery for the common people and violence and chaos throughout the globe. From the top ruler who eliminated all his opponents in order to remain in power and who uses the state machinery to catch votes and win elections, to the beggar who stretches his arm on the roadside instead of doing some decent job to earn a living; from the high government official who indulges in influence peddling to the teacher who neglects his class at school for the benefit of his private tuition pupils, all are perpetuating the bane of corruption. It is thought that clean people sleep better than corrupt people, my dear Billy. But corrupt people seem to enjoy the waking hours much more. A businessman once observed, “for a long time I was ashamed of the way I lived,” to which his friend asked, “Did you reform?” “No”, he replied, “I’m not ashamed any more, especially when I see how the others are living.” Stories abound about corrupt officers in the customs and about policemen on the beat. It has become service facilitation through a well-established system of give and take. It is so much easier and far less burdensome to hand over a few notes to the officer and get your things done, or get yourself out of trouble. It was a known practice in the Civil Service to distribute scholarships to one’s kith and kin, and in case none was found for a particular scholarship, the offer would be allowed to enjoy a long peaceful sleep in a drawer somewhere. Certain agents of socialist countries used to sell the scholarships that were entrusted to them for free distribution to the best candidates. Corruption has been institutionalized. To such an extent that it seems almost impossible to get something done through the proper channel. The law of demand and supply never worked so well as in this sector. As for me, lead me not into temptation, my dear Billy; I can find the way myself.