Recently I
came across a profound and very meaningful post in the WhatsApp which read like
this: “I asked a wise man, ‘tell me Sir, in which field could I make a great
career?’ He said with a smile, ‘be a good human being. There is a lot of
opportunity in this area and very little competition’”.
Indeed, to be
a good human being is a noble career but a daunting and challenging one; a life-long
task. Most people either just exist and do not live as good human beings, or
else they are in the hot pursuit of professions and careers in order to make
money and be wealthy and rich. In the bargain they fail to be good human
beings.
There is
hardly any or very little competition among people to be good human beings. On
the other hand, there is cut-throat competition to be doctors, nurses, engineers,
managers, secretaries, auditors, teachers, politicians, bureaucrats, police or
army officers etc. etc. The rat race is
so highly competitive, that many forget
ordinary forms of decency, courtesy and humanity, leave alone justice and
equality or other moral principles. Corruption is so rampant that it has become
normal part of life and many do not even realize that they are being unfair,
unjust and corrupt, or are brazenly so.
The wise man’s
advice to choose to be a good human being as one’s career is so profound and meaningful
and urgently necessary for peaceful co-existence of human beings and for the
survival of human society. If you are a
good human being you will be a good doctor, good engineer, good teacher, good
bureaucrat etc. But if you are a bad human being you cannot really be a good
doctor, engineer, teacher etc. If your
character itself is bad that will reflect in your dealings and life in general.
That is why we see so much of corruption, injustice, oppression, violence etc.
in the society because of bad human beings. If human society is to be just and humane,
we need more good human beings in it.
We need to
train our children to be good human beings. That is the foundation on which any
or all careers are to be built. Let them be good human beings, then there is no
worry which career they choose. They will be good teachers, doctors,
politicians, bureaucrats etc.
Recently Delhi
police arrested a doctor for allegedly killing more than 100 patients in order
to remove their kidneys. Obviously, it was a racket carried out not just by one
person but several. How could a well-trained doctor, a surgeon commit such
heinous crimes? If he was a good human being this would not have happened.
There were other bad human beings who cooperated with him and ran the racket,
going to the extent of even killing patients for the sake of money. That is the
height of greed and love of money. St.
Paul has reminded us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils
(cf. 1 Tim.6:10). The multi-crore scams, bank frauds, money laundering, bribery,
extortion, arms race, lucrative business in drugs and pornography, flesh trade,
human trafficking etc. are only concrete examples of greed and love of money. One
is reminded here of the famous words of Mahatma Gandhi: “The earth has enough
for everybody’s need, not for everybody’s greed.”
In the Book of
Proverbs we read: “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an
abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent
blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among
brothers.” (Prov.6:16-19). Further the wise man in the Book of Proverbs says:
“A good man obtains favour from the Lord, but a man of evil devices he
condemns. No one is established in wickedness, but the root of the righteous
will never be moved” (Prov. 12:2-3).
It is indeed a
great challenge to be a good human being, a righteous person, and a person of
character. People are more inclined to choose easier paths and comfort zones,
and end up in wickedness and sin. Or else in pursuit of efficiency, maximum
production and maximum profit they lose human character. Charles Lindbergh
shared his experience thus: “I grew up as a disciple of science…. Now I have
lived to experience the early results of scientific materialism…. I have
watched pride in workmanship leave and human character decline as efficiency of
production lines increased.”
Pope St. John
Paul’s exhortation is very pertinent: “Help transform the world around you by
giving the best of yourself. Teach others the value of faith and prayer and
goodness”. And the great St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with goodness” (Rom. 12:21).
Let us
therefore choose and guide and help our children to choose the great career of
becoming a good human being. Let us use every opportunity in this field without
fear of any competition, for as the wise man said: “there is a lot of
opportunity in this area and very little competition”.
