Common Justice

Common Justice

I read one whatsapp message in which the story of Aditya Birla the in charge of Hindalco forgiving one of his senior executives made a blunder that cost the company over Rs. 10 Cores.  Others in the company thought that Birla would come down heavily on this guy, but taking account of all that he has done through which the company gained several million dollars and also counting all his good qualities, Birla chose the opposite of forgiving him.  At the end the moral of the story was mentioned that:

So before you jump to conclusions about someone, stop, sit down and make a list of a person’s best qualities.  If you do…you may come to a different conclusion. One thing is for sure, you’ll approach the person with the right attitude and may be won’t say things you’ll later regret it’

Indeed this is a valuable lesson and a wonderful example for us to imitate in our life.  But there is another side of the story which we often try to brush under the carpet in the name of good attitude towards others.  I too agree with such advice.  But can we do the same on the same level in every situation both in our home and work place and in our community?  In general the human nature of taking advantage of others’ generosity also needs to be considered. 

Suppose if a person takes advantage of our generous attitude to continue to live in a denial mode which brings other problems and also loss, then s/he needs to be disciplined while considering all the goodness in her/him.  Though I appreciate the generosity of Birla, he might have also calculated the loss of that person in case he came down heavily on him and thereby losing him permanently, thereby giving an opportunity to his rivals to hire him who knows most of his business secrets.  This is called Chankkya Needi [Code of Chanakya].  One can ignore a friend but should keep his enemy very close.  This is not a negative approach but the prudence of business men—particularly some business communities in India. 

Keeping a balance is the art of life. While appreciating all the noble qualities in others, when need comes, equally they need to be disciplined when the situation demands, particularly to warn others that forgiveness and generosity is not a norm but in certain situations only an exception. 

But the greatest challenge in handling such a situation is the normative values which should guide us all.  While we approach such a situation with our own views and values, it need not be universal for all.  So there is no universal principle which will be normative for all in every situation. But keeping a balance of appreciation and discipline keeping the interest of all—both the individual and community (or company, family) could be a guiding principle though may not be the normative value for all.  As I was meditating on this point I wrote the secular song 436.