Thursday, November 14, 2013

Symptomatic treatment? Good or bad

In most of the occasions, we tend to treat the symptom rather than the cause for the symptom. If a person does wrong, we are eager to set it right by punishing the person or through that act, bring awareness or fear of doing the wrong into the community.

While I agree that it is one of the approaches, I do not deny the existence of a more practical and positive approach. Show the person who has defaulted, the merit of adhering to the norms set by the community. This way, the person can choose whether to belong to that community or not. Let us not expel people from system / community just because the system is unable to accept the deviations of people in it. That way, in not a distant future, one would be left with a system bereft of people.

To show the person the norms set by the society, we need people who have adhered to the principles that the society professes to teach.... and appreciate them. We need people who have taken this vocation by choice and not as a last resort. A team of people who are dedicated in their commitment and motivated by their convictions. 

They alone can be the defenders and beacons of light for that community. Counseling, as some people would like to call it, by such people would give motivation to the new entrants and sustenance to the existing. 

While it may be a good idea to instill fear to stop the unwanted acts being perpetrated, it would be a better idea, in the interests of the the community, to start an awareness campaign by the motivated, within the community, simultaneously.

It is only ignorance of the concept behind a rule or law, that promotes deviation from it. Once we comprehend the concept or the fundamental feeling behind the origin of a rule or law, we can express ourselves better and the one listening or watching us would be more convinced to follow.

 Basically, a mode of life is derived by own conviction rather than external convicting.