Dear RID Monty, DG Jennifer and President Shari,
Greetings!
- Second year of the Essay Contest based on
Rotary 4-Way Test for about 12,500 schools in
With best regards,
HOW TO USE ROTARY 4-WAY
TEST TO ELIMINATE CORRUPTION
Recently, I saw
the movie Rang De Basanti. The movie was a very powerful portrayal of
how a group of college students killed the Defence
Minister who, through his corrupt acts, was basically responsible for the death
of their friend- an air force pilot. The
minister was instrumental in the purchase of substandard aircraft parts, which
resulted in the crash of many aircrafts including that of their friend, and
realizing how unethical, irresponsible and corrupt this man had been, the
youngsters killed the defense minister.
The movie left me
disturbed. It forced me to think about
the horrors of corruption which is a massive force of destruction and a silent
killer of values, truth, fairness and brotherhood. The bribery, underhanded deals, greed,
insensitivity and ruthless selfishness depicted in the film left me puzzled and
confused. I felt disgusted and angered by these realities, and for a short
while after watching the film, I felt that I should join such youngsters if
need arises and kill all the corrupt elements around me.
A few weeks after
seeing the movie, I came across the Rotary’s 4- Way test. The test allowed me to view issues from a
different perspective. When viewed from
the perspective of the 4-way test, I
realized that corruption is not necessarily a mountain-sized monster with a
thousand tentacles but rather a tiny virus, invisible to our own eyes and mind,
which inserts itself in our own body and heart. We must ask ourselves----- are
there not instances in which we ourselves are a party to corruption, which we
otherwise so strongly detest? Are we not active players in stoking corruption?
Are we not ready to bribe municipality officials, railway ticket examiners and
road traffic inspectors? Are we not tempted by small and unfair favours shown
to us? Do we not unconsciously compromise truth, justice and fairness when they
clash with our self-interest? Corruption need not be a monster. Corruption starts with lack of integrity.
The rotary 4- way test
took me to examine the roots of corruption.
I started looking at the world outside and more importantly within
myself from a perspective of the questions posed by the test. Am I truthful?, Are my actions fair to all around me? Do my actions build
goodwill and friendship? Will my deeds benefit all concerned? This basic test
made me realize that I am blessed with a mechanism which is corruption
resistant, free of cost, user friendly, environment friendly, compact,
portable, with no side effects and a lifetime warranty. Indeed I was reminded
of Einstein’s observation that we mortals are spiritual beings passing through
the human experience.
TRUTH is the essence of
life, and an eternal value to nurture, treasure and cherish. When we are truthful to our words, intentions
and actions, we can never go wrong. This
powerful factor eliminates 60% of corruption within us and in our immediate
environment.
FAIRNESS is another
powerful component of the Rotary testing scale.
It encourages us to be selfless and sensitive towards all those around
us, including the environment. The test
of fairness makes us realize that a bucket of water wasted in our bathroom
could be the lifeline for an underprivileged villager in the
GOODWILL is another
vital factor, which is like a lifeline for dignified human existence. We may not be conscious of this but we should
always be concerned about the consequences of our action in terms of this
impact on others. When we blend this
concern with the test of good will and friendship in a focused manner, it helps
in eliminating corruption by another 10%.
When we monitor and
examine our deeds and thoughts from the perspective of whether it does BENEFITS
all concerned, we are moving into the higher realm of common good from the stage of narrow personal interest---what can
be appreciated as our having evolved from the’ I/me’ to the’ WE ‘stage. Besides
elevating us to a higher human existence, this stage would automatically help
reduce corruption by another 10% thus achieving a total of 100% results.
It is said “no country
is corruption free, you have to make it corruption
free”. If each one of us starts using
Rotary’s 4-way test, a positive anti corruption force will be formed and, one
day,
Be ready to see