The scholars of English language must be well aware of how the usage of certain words have been changed over the years.Certain words which denoted alarm at one point of time are now used to denote appreciation (for example,fantastic).But there are many other words describing virtues of human beings which lost its actual meaning in the modern day(especially in India).This may sound strange;but let me give you some examples.Humility is considered as a great virtue.A person of great achievement with no aura about himself is considered to have humility.Sometimes, even after achieving a lot,a person can feel inadequate and this may be the reason of not showing off.So the humility here can be actually cowardice in disguise.Especially persons from armed force are supposed to have pride in what they are and next time you see a police or military fellow with extra show of humility, rest assured that he is unworthy.
The line separate arrogance and confidence is very narrow and most of the time people confuse the two.Many confident people(especially youngsters) are termed arrogant and vise versa.To put it simple,"I can do it" is confidence and "I alone can do it" is arrogance.In the same way,being careless is sometimes described as cool(doing things without much tension). A cool person will be efficient without breaking his/her head over something:never careless about things.
A wise person is the one who have seen the world and who is objective with a sound judgement.But now a days,people who states that "world is a bad place"are proclaimed as worldly wise.A person without optimism and faith cannot be objective and a good judge.Because the world still has lot of good things to offer.
Many a times a person who is adamant is called courageous and many people become too rigid in the name of discipline.Both courage and discipline have wider meaning.Courage is standing up for something which you believe in.But that does not mean that you refuse to change even after you are proved wrong.Same way,discipline is a way of life of self control rather than sticking to a particular pattern and norms.
A "modern smart person" often can turn out to be a cheap person .One who bargain and push himself cannot be smart in the real sense of the term. Smartness is all about efficiency and energy level not about smart talks and tactics and this kind of smartness can irritate people which ultimately pull one down.A real smart person will not be short sighted but view things holistically. Smartness is not cunningness.
Do not confuse between emotional and passionate. An emotional person cannot balance and judge properly because of the strong attachment. Passion is all about involvement but it will never shut one's eyes from reality.
Simplicity is all about not showing off and spend according to the needs.Many a times misers may look simple because they hate to part with money and end up buying less.
One bigest misnomer I come across is branding naive people as good. A person who never talk back and whom you can order around is often called as good and when something happen to them because this naiveness people say" it is a pity that such a nice person has to go throuugh all these".Being good requires a lot of strength and conviction and a weak person end up worser than a bad one.
The great Indian family converted the word love into dependency.The affectionate parents never let the kids to do anything of their own as long as they are alive. One's career, life partner,name of the kids and their future etc. are all being decided by one's parents in the name of love. The moment someone thinks about deciding oneself, he/she will be subjected to emotional blackmails by these type of parents and even if some one break free from this, they may feel guilty. Such is the vicious circle of dependency coated with LOVE where your choice of following your heart becomes the "rarest of the rarest and heinous " crime.
Finally let me tell you about power. In India the ability to misuse rule of law is power. If you do not need to stand in queue anywhere,if you can jump the traffick signal without any problem,if you have ten subordinates around you to salute, you have power. That is why Lord Akton says that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Many people do not know that more than the symbols above ,power comes from personality and strength of character and just because aquiring a position does not ensure power.
So there is corruption in our vocabulary also.It is important to be good judges of fellow humans and oneself to get these things corrected and for that try to cultivate all the above virtues in the real sense of the term.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
The omnipresent yet invisible to the innocent eye phenomenon corruption recently got into every mobile savvy Indian's vocabulary ;thanks to Anna hazare's hunger strike and the fiasco followed.The last of the surviving tribe of gandhian was as ferocious as a hijacker in insisting to bring the "public touch" to the Lokpal Bill.But one wonders:Does it in any way control corruption?
