Lure of The Lucre (The Bait of Easy Money)

We all promptly reacted towards the match fixing scandal involving ace cricketer Sreesanth. In our harsh criticism of the incident, we have designated him as the latest national villain. He came from a state where cricketing heroes are few, and he is the first from there to rise to such big a stature. A news paper said he betrayed the trust of millions of Malayalees. In our righteous indignation, we were quick to blame him for biting the bate of easy money.


But, if we follow the careers of the past offenders, we may find that though their playing careers ended because of their involvement in match fixing, they still enjoy prime positions in the society as commentators, coaches, cricket administrators and even politicians. Compared to Indian players, foreign players had to face tougher situations and the disgraced Hansie Cronje could not fully revive his lost reputation as he died in a tragic plane crash. What, I mean to say here is that people forget and forgive as quickly and easily as they condemn and criticise.


Coming back to moral judgement, we always maintain a holier than thou attitude. When someone is caught red handed or brought to the book, we severely criticise him or her, even though given an opportunity we may commit the same offence. I can do it, others can't or others should not do what I cannot do has become our stand in many issues.


When it comes to making easy money, we take a more benevolent stand even towards others, unless they are caught in the act. People are not ashamed to talk about money made through unlawful means; in fact, they brag about it. I have heard people thanking God, even inside places of worship, for blessing them with such kind of money. Making money by hook or crook has become norm now. We are smart enough to devise fraudulent methods to acquire wealth. We evade taxes without any compunctions. We prefer to keep our transactions off the records.


We should remember, when we evade taxes or earn illegal money, income redistribution becomes impossible and equality in the society remains a mirage.While some mint money, others are deprived of even basic needs in life. In the name of patriotism, we adopt jingoistic and xenophobic attitudes. We think hate speech against other countries and people living there makes us patriots. But, as long as we make money through unlawful practices, we are not. Lure of the lucre is not easy to resist, but, resist we should, if want our nation to be a global force to reckon with.