Absolute Good or Relative Good

I am a stickler for obeying traffic rules and I believe that everyone should be as well. Invariably, I am the one chiding my friends to buckle up or stop them from breaking red lights even during slow hours. But I make some exceptions, I realised. There’s a particular route I take from work, where because of ongoing metro rail construction, the diverted route takes us past two more blocks and adds another five minutes to the commute. So, on days when I am on the two-wheeler, I make a small but quick wrong turn and drive on the opposite side of the traffic for twenty metres to reach my office on the other side. Similarly, the other exception I make is when I travel on the wrong side of the road for ten metres and take a turn to my left, rather than take a thirty metres ride on the right side of the road and make a U-turn where it is permitted. This particular bit is near where the local Mission centre is. And I invariably make this ‘wrong’ turn on Sundays after my study class with Chyks. Yeah, the irony!However, for both these exceptions, I have noticed that I do it only when I am riding a two-wheeler because it is easy to slip past. Whenever I am commuting by car, I take the proper diversions and follow the rules as usual. Of course, on such days, I lean back in the driver’s seat with a smug smile about my obedience and moral superiority over other ‘violators’ on the road.Am I as bad as the two-wheeler rider who habitually races past speed limits, breaking traffic signals and riding without a helmet? I think not. I break traffic rules only on those two occasions; hardly two times a week. I am not a habitual violator, right? And I do it only when the traffic is slow (on Sundays) or when the diversion is less than ten or twenty metres. It’s not like I am driving a whole kilometre on the wrong side, which—sadly—I have noticed is not uncommon in India..Anyway, I still stand the odds of endangering myself or some other unsuspecting person on the road, even for those two minutes and twenty metres. So, where is my moral compass when I scold my friends or brothers when they violate rules?I try and reflect upon this hypothesis, with other situations as well. Am I eligible to lecture or preach regarding truthfulness if I tell small white lies once in a while? How can I encourage my Chyk class members to practice kindness and forgiveness if I snap ever so often at my mother, whatever be the reason for our arguments? I am indeed kind and forgiving towards everyone else in my life. But I just can’t hold back my tongue against my mother.So am I only relatively good? I am only relatively obedient compared to habitual traffic offenders. I am only relatively kind when the benefactors are everyone else but my own mother. Am I ever fully kind? The sad truth is no.The concept of ‘absolute good’ means that we can take a value and live by it, no matter what. It is not in comparison to the next person. It is fully and wholly a measure of ourselves for ourselves. I am the only one who can judge if I have been truthful every single moment. I am the only one who can observe if I am kind at all times, towards all people or only towards a select few when it is convenient for me..We are slipping as a society because we are all relatively good. And when the baseline for goodness dips further, even regular levels seem saintly. But what if we are all absolutely good?The only example I can think of is Sri Rama, who embodied his principles at all times. Not only when it was convenient for Him. I try time and again to practice some value fully but I notice some slips now and then. However, I think the pursuit itself has yielded positive results in me and the people around me. Maybe I will consciously avoid these ‘small’ exceptions going forward. After all, true evolution comes from doing what is right, not what is easy.

Absolute Good or Relative Good

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