VALUE ANALYSIS

The Tendency Whether or not it is our inherent tendency to adjust to certain situations or be judgmental about them, is hard to tell. However, when it comes to compromise, it becomes clear that our instinct guides us to avoid certain situations. ‘Compromise’, though, may be a term weak in its meaning, but it does result in a win-win situation more often than once for many. I may sound pessimistic, given the number of achievements recorded in the lives of brave-hearts but compromise is certainly a quality that has a bearing on defining our personality. What others think. Before coming to the point, I would like to recollect what Mr. Amir Khan told to some of our cub editors. He inspired them not to compromise under any circumstance. They must be strong and must carry forward their thoughts with a zeal and gusto braving all situations. They were fortunately ones with brain plus cash and so carrying forward their life’s principles and preferences will not be a notch troublesome when they come of age. Nevertheless, Mr. Khan would surely not negate the fact that thousands of the underprivileged others with a similar faculty fail to be in charge of their respective dream platform and resort to compromise. What about them? Mr. Khan might as well argue that the universe conspires to give what we determine to have. Many illustrating examples top news headlines and many arguments may crop up, that this kind of thought goes with the weaker lot. I would rather ask them why at all do we continue to thrive on the dictum’ Might is right? ‘Survival of the Fittest’? All of us have the right to live, right to work out our dreams, right to justice. Why should a Brahmin qualified to be a doctor wait for a Scheduled Caste to get through? Why should the political leaders continue to harass the hapless ‘slum dogs’ to pertinent struggle and servility? Why should a wife offer to the demands of her NRI husband’s demands just because she is not qualified as much as he is? A matter of choice Is it our choice that compromise becomes our habit or our predicament that vows to opt for it as a value? Alternatively, is it thrust upon us to maintain peace at home, at work, in the society in the nation, or is it the way of life that we have accepted long ago in the name of progress? I’d like to mention that sometimes even the preaching of spiritual leaders strike the wrong cord of an individual and this affects him to resort to humility even when otherwise is demanded. The trees that surround our building are dampening our house. Words were ignored when we approached our neighbour politely with a plea to get the branches, some of them, to be cut. Finally, one storm uprooted one of the strongest trees. Now, you will ask, ‘who has the patience after all’? My point is not that, but in our being tolerant, though, refusing, at times, to the injustice being done, we had been steadfast and we did compromise in our effort to respect every soul on earth. This also shows lack of moral values in some of us, born of our innate laziness, stubbornness and selfishness. This may sound rude to some, but this is fact. When we choose to compromise, we unknowingly become strong in our prayers. A wife chooses to compromise with her abusive husband as in ‘Provoked’ but one day her tolerance does overpower her better senses and she jumps to act out the impossible. Our prerogative I do not, by any way, try to demean others who do not believe in the theory of compromise. What I am merely trying out, is to be explicit about the fact that if compromise is resorted to, then things go well, for sometime, peace is maintained, but the pent up anguish, forced sacrifice, forced tolerance take an ugly shape that ruin our humanness. If we are to truly call ourselves progressive, then we have to overcome our sluggishness, selfishness inherited from deadened traditions and embrace the new with an open heart and an open mind. It will not take time for a thinking man to realize that our Mother Earth has been tolerant but not compromising. We are modern beings of the modern world. For peace to reign we have to rise ourselves from where we were so as not to give others a scope to even think of ‘why compromise’ or ‘why not’?