Chasing the Smartest

Where does the world spend most of its energy? Chasing the smartest is the answer. Rather than trying to improve our own records we compete with that of others. Look at the defense; every country and every force has an eye on the gadget, which can outrun that of its enemy. Look at the penal codes; it’s always changing to include the smartest. I remember the story of a smart farmer. His field was close to a public road and so he had problems with people stealing his water melons in the night. One day the farmer played a clever idea. He put a sign board saying that one of the fruits is poisoned. The trick worked and in the following night no fruit was stolen. However it was written under the sign board he put: ‘now two of the fruits are poisoned’. The story says that the more we think that we are smart the more we are humiliated. Look at the complex country rules with all its clauses and sub clauses. Every time we fix a loophole with a new sub clause, we see more loopholes developing in it. It never ends. See, two lawyers arrive at the pub and order a couple of drinks. They sit down and begin to eat the sandwiches they had brought in their bags. Seeing this, the angry waiter approaches them and says, “Excuse me, but you cannot eat your own sandwiches in here!” The lawyers looked at each other, shrugged and exchanged their sandwiches. We claim that the world has become a global village and everything has improved; the fact is that it hasn’t become a better place to live in. The more we advance the more we shrink towards ourselves. Unless we stop chasing the latest and the smartest and find more importance to values than inventions, things are going to be chaotic. 

It is here that I remember Dr. K S Radhakrishnan, former Vice Chancellor of Shri Shankaracharya University, who was a contributor to Indian Thoughts, some time back. He once said that the meaning of the Sanskrit word ‘Asteya’ is not restricted to abstain from stealing only. He wrote, “Asteya, specifically demands everyone not only to take something of somebody either by force or consent but also to give up everything that is not essential to ensure ones’ own existence. In this sense Asteya specifically says that one has to regulate oneself to fix his or her minimum as a prelude to establish law and order in a civic society. In short, law and order can be maintained properly not by the police force but by the self regulating individuals who firmly believes in values.” 

Joseph Mattappally