A group of experts of social sciences came to conduct research about the causes of corruption and especially flagrant and rampant bribe acceptance. They chose some of the Asian countries where the rate of corruption and bribe is very high. The research or study continued for almost a year and in the end, the findings were published. They came with a lot of statistical information which we leave for another day but they also gave some very good reasons in the light of psychology, relating once personality to this malignant habit.
They found out that a person who accepts bribe or falls in this bad habit does not start it very easily. In the beginning, when he even thinks of doing this immoral and rather disgusting act, the forces of goodness naturally inherent in his mind and soul assert all their resistance to prevent him from this. Then, slowly and gradually evil forces assure him that he is one who also deserves to do so and thus he moves closer to this well and once falls in it, starts a journey of shamefulness and disgust and his fall continues and day by day, he gets deeper in this well.
This is what we all know but their interesting finding was that a person doesn’t step into this shameful territory until and unless he considers himself to be a poor, hungry, shameless, mean and wicked. Once he considers himself so he succeeds in making his conscience fall asleep and then there remains no barrier on his way and he tries to justify his shameful act.
The exact opposite of it can be seen a person who considers himself dignified, self-respecting, honorable and glorified. Such a person never thinks of even taking a small step towards this sinful act. In fact, these noble qualities of his personality act as a wall in protecting him from the bribe and so many other evils and bad habits.
It is thus necessary that one’s self-respect and ego should be sustained and one should never fall into circumstances where natural and noble qualities of his personality should be damaged.
According to psychology, one’s personality is molded by his beliefs about himself. If he thinks himself to be dignified, respectable and honorable, he would never think mean and would never come near to the mean works. On the opposite, when a person considers himself to be mean and cheap, he then gets involved in mean works as well. It is the reason why Islam regards human beings ‘The Best of Creations’ and time and again reminds them of this noble status so that they should try to live a dignified life realizing their importance.
It is a general experience that a person who accepts bribe loses all the concepts about self-respect and dignity. It is the reason why when such a person is abused or called with insulting titles, he fails to show any kind of anger or protest against such treatment and relies on giving out a silly and stupid smile. On the other hand, a person who is dignified in his own eyes shows a tough resistance when he is not treated properly or in an insulting manner.
As discussed above, the person who accepts bribe first develops very mean and negative beliefs about himself and it has hardly any relationship with the actual situation. There may be many who will be having so many financial problems but their dignity and other noble qualities never let them to go astray and fall victim to mean and corrupt means and sources. On the other hand, there may be many who accept bribe just because they have crushed down their personal qualities and not because of needs and compulsion of poverty and adversity.
It is also poor that being a human and owner of numerous qualities, we should leave our valued qualities and resort to the immoral and illegal practices.
In TV dramas or movies, a typical character is shown who is a complete and representative picture of a person who has succeeded in crushing down all his personal qualities and thus he has been left with nothing at all. All the time, he keeps giving out a silly smile and affirms whatever his boss says. If his boss declares the light of a candle brighter than that of a sun, he soon jumps in with all his logic and reasons to prove this statement to be true. He smiles when he sees his boss smiling and then at once collects back his smile when he sees his boss stops smiling. When his boss is in bad temper, he also tries his best to show himself as the most sad and unhappy person. In short, this person appears to have no personality, feelings or emotions of his own and has completely made it bound with that of his boss. A person living such an emotional or spiritual parasitic life might be living in a palace but in terms of logic and sensibility, his life is absolutely void of any value and meaning.
Dog has been found to be an animal that has qualities similar to the ones mentioned above. It is the reason why it has been banned from being kept as a pet. When a person lives with such an animal, he also gets some effect from it and develops those mean and cheap qualities that deprive a man of his noble and honorable qualities. When a dog is beaten or is insulted, it never shows any kind of feedback that should be called fair or justified. When a person adopts such qualities, he no more remains to be called a human being. In the animal kingdom, horse is also an animal that has been found to be more beneficial than a dog. It is very useful and carries out a number of works for its owner but when this animal is beaten unfairly, it never makes any compromise with you and either runs away or shows the equal retaliation. That is why one feels his heart and spirit uplifted when he rides a horse. It was the reason that old tribes and civilizations used to keep horses as it had qualities much congruent with the uplifted and noble human qualities.
Sustaining ones dignified personality and preserving the gifted qualities of self-respect and honor can be initiated by a person himself when he understands all these and avoid such conditions that might have hazardous effects. Moreover, we need to respect others and not put them into circumstances where flattering should be preferred over straight-forwardness, especially on job places or financial transactions, every individual’s self-respect and honor should be uplifted.