Isn’t it amusing that Taxi drivers in Goa now have to undergo a mandatory two-week orientation on professional ethics while being also educated on how they should talk and behave. Wouldn’t it have been appropriate if such a much needed orientation was first imparted to our political class?
Those in public life who expect others to observe moral and ethical standards in society must act as icons by rigorously following them first. They must say what they mean and always mean what they say. Their word must always be their bond. Above all their actions must speak louder than their words. They must always be judged regarding what they say and what they actually do and be transparent and accountable to those that they are privileged to serve.
Persons in Public life are expected to be moral exemplars of morality and ethics as they have pledged to uphold and defend that realm. There should be no dividing line between their personal and public life. Private lives of public figures are wide open to public scrutiny. What they do in their private life matters and does impact their public responsibilities. Can they be ethical in public if they are unethical in private? Their private life reveals more about morals than their sound bites.
For society to progress and prosper, we need to have individuals in public life with competence, honesty, dedication, humility, experience and selfless determination above all else. Goa deserves better. We cannot afford to have wolves in sheep’s clothing! The French Nobel Prize winning Author and Philosopher Albert Camus had rightly said “A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world”.
