I would like to challenge my own mindset with regards to certain issues. My previous post had a section about the "Greater Good". Now if anyone were to ask me if there is anything called the "Greater Good" I would have said NO. But since i am trying to challenge my mindset here I shall look upon the question again. Is there a thing such as the "Greater Good"?
Through the course of time luminaries have been facing this obstacle.. the "Greater Good". Would they have been lesser men, they would have turned back, afraid to tread the path that lay before them. Genghis Khan united all of China and Mongolia, albeit via a bloody campaign, to transform them from a squabbling, poor bunch of tribes to a mighty and wealthy juggernaut that steam-rolled everything in it's path. Now this might not be a suitable example for many as it involves violence but that's how the world was back then. Diplomacy was a mere bystander then, not the potent tool it is today. Definitely the "Greater Good" for many hundreds of families.
What better example for a boy from Jamshedpur than the Tatas. They have been accused of unlawfully acquiring the land from the tribals of this region to set up their factories. Well, now the Tatas are a vast conglomerate, feeding clothing and sheltering so many thousands. "Greater Good"? Most definitely.
The late Dhirubhai Ambani had been accused of false means to generate capital for his ventures. It works out to the same thing. That falsity has resulted in jobs for thousands of people who consider the Ambanis to be akin to their gods.
A rather bizarre example now, although possibly the most relevant. Everybody has heard about Viagra, the wonder drug for the middle aged man. It has no health benefits save boosting the flaccid egos of men who need it. So what is the need to make Viagra then? Absolutely none, one might say. But the truth is that the money made by selling Viagra (and that is quite a bit) is used for funding typhoid, cancer, tuberculosis and malaria research. The genius of this plan requires genius to fathom and I most certainly did not possess it. The target audience for Viagra are middle- aged Caucasian males. These people would never suffer from typhoid.. they live in clean surroundings.. they drink boiled water. So why would they give their hard-earned money for medical research that is used to cure a disease that wont afflict them. Typhoid, malaria and tuberculosis are among the top 5 killers in Africa. But they do not have the money to eat, let alone sponsor medical research. So sell Viagra, collect the money and pump it into research. "Greater Good". You still don't think so?
The examples are numerous, but the necessary vision to see is limited. The "Greater Good" is all around us, we just haven't seen it yet.
The thing with the greater good is that it generally takes a period which is invariably more than our lifetime to come to fruition. Ergo it is to most of us irrelevent and that is the issue. You can't expect most people to have foresight and that probably explains your last line
ReplyDeleteYou are right.. I didn't think of these things till last night.. Was having a few drinks with my elder brother when he told me of these simple examples.. shut my cynicism up.. now I aint got anything against it
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