Being ethical

(Writing for 4th Feb)

He felt a hand at the back of his shoulder. The touch was to get Praveen’s attention by Raj. Raj wanted to ask the answer of question no 3 in the Class 10th Mathematics exam. He surreptitiously was trying to ask Praveen, but Praveen didn’t budge and politely declined by giving a stern look at him. This also got in the eyes of invigilator and he warned Raj. Praveen didn’t believe in cheating or helping in cheating. The value which he had got from his upbringing was not to do wrong and anything unethical.

Fast forward 6 years, he was in the engineering college. He was into the college journey and was in full youth, energy and the enthusiasm. He found himself pointing to Joy who was in front of him asking for answer of one question in Basic Electronics. He was the same Praveen who was against even small wrongs. But the college environment and friends with him have diluted his thoughts and threshold for declaring an event wrong had risen in his eyes. Small wrongs was right now for him.

You start accepting things which you considered wrong earlier. This slowly drifts in your mind and you start justifying your act by giving some or the other excuses in your mind. But what is wrong is wrong. You know it. If you are taking the credit of a task done by your team mate or by your direct report, you know deep inside that it is not right. If one is claiming incorrect capability of a product that it can do so many things which it cannot do, just to do sales, it is again unethical. We are into so many things and at so many different kind of environments that we adjust ourselves to that environment and start doing the same things as others even if that is wrong.

The question need to be asked always. Ask yourself “Are you ethical”. Only you and you can answer this. Do not accept superficial justification from yourself. Let the thoughts subside and keep on asking “Are you ethical” with relation to any activity you do. This will help you improve. Even if you have done small wrongs earlier, this will help you improve your future journey. It doesn’t matter much how you behave when all are watching you, it matter most how you behave and act when no one is watching you.