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Written by OSS Leadership Forum
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Monday, 12 November 2007 |
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Duty is a really old fashioned word I heard at a conference this week and I thought to myself - hmm that's a word we don't use much today. The person in question had mentioned reporting on duty and reporting off duty and therefore in the context of work and our obligations arising from employment. The Indian culture emphasises a very strong sense of duty to family and community - what will people say? to anything that goes against the norms - an obligation to behave and act a certain way. Therefore in my mind duty has assumed this huge onerous task that I may not have much choice in executing and definitely will not enjoy. The definition of the term duty given by lexicographers is: "something that is due", "obligatory service"; "something that one is bound to perform or to avoid". But what about the glorious duty - to do the right thing. Remember our former MPs complaining that they are not paid enough. They said they do not have the salary it takes to give the handouts that are expected of an MP in their home area. Which brings me back to what is the right thing and what is the duty of an MP to his constituents. Is it to take yet more tax payers money to ostensibly re-channel it back to the community ad hoc or is it a salary like any other for discharging a given job of work. Some people blame the failure of a society to do the right things as a corruption and an evil. However, what if that same society simply has not had a common definition of their duty? Whose role is it to do this? How will we ever improve ourselves? It is you duty to VOTE!
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