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Bikram Vohra
JournalismPakistan.com
July 8, 2013
Have you ever been between a rock and a hard place? We all find ourselves in such a spot at some juncture in our lives, torn between doing the right thing and wondering if the consequences for ourselves and others who depend on us are worth the heroics.
Oh, of course, nothing is more admirable than sticking to our principles and there is such a good feeling about it. But where does that martyrdom begin to melt into stubbornness and actually begins to harm you rather than elevate your status, even in your own eyes. Now, that you climbed the tiger you can’t get off it…and your loved ones have to suck it up.
I know all the clichés. You have to look in the mirror in the morning, live with yourself, you cannot flinch, honor is all, but there is the whole world calling you foolish and mule-headed for not seeking a compromise and there you are setting your stand to music, finding virtue in isolation.
I think it is the biggest dilemma we all have. Do we knuckle under, discretion being the better part of valor and all that, will live to fight another day, or do we sink beneath the waves waving our shiny sword and then go down with a gurgle and the waters close and no one cares.
They say everyone has a defining line, some far down the beach, some way back. That’s like having a price. The reason why I am all solemn and serious is I just read about this guy who fought hard and true against the system and then finally, exhausted, gave in and surrendered because it was easier.
Couldn’t afford the cost of the principle he wanted to uphold. How far would you go? Think of it, some of us don’t even reach the beach, so swiftly do we seek the comfort of expediency. And others see principles as made of steel and unbending. If they flex they are not principles..yes….or no?
(The writer is a Senior Editorial Advisor of Khaleej Times and the paper’s former Editor. He has also been the Editor of Gulf News, Gulf Today, Emirates Today and Bahrain Tribune)
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