The Buck Stops With You

The society seems to be suffering with the excess of ‘diplomats’. The word brings different pictures to different minds but there seems to be a universal agreement upon ‘the kind who do not take any position and build upon others’. This parasite-ization of society is only in the interest of a large section of leeches, sadly forming a major part of majority (read society). 

What legitimizes and hopelessly builds hope with this diplomat-ization of otherwise mundane acts of life is the talk of Democratic Dividend. Democratic Dividend is not like ‘Demographic Dividend’, a high decibel term, liberally used to the extent of exploitation in newsrooms and panel discussions. Nor has it become a cliché. Our distinguished experts make a fundamental error in their assumption when they say democratic dividend. The (social) diplomats, exhibit an entirely different characteristic which I would call ‘Multiplication Factor’. It is the ability of stereotypes to group and attract the likes. It goes without saying that the ones who do not conform to this Spartan specification of ‘Stereotypicity’ are considered differently abled, so different that they are of no good use. 

Politics, organizations and specifically political organizations adhere to the geographic of cold and lonely at the top. As far as the organizations is concerned, it would help a lot if the top executives came out of their air conditioned cabins and faced the elements a lot more often. Even nature suggests that life prospers in the warmer climes of tropics where an abundance of life forms and overabundance of human species are found. This abundance makes Darwin’s theory even truer in these regions and a constant fight for survival keeps taking place. It is these facts that call for being diplomatic for staying relevant in our environments. Thus, a majority of us choose to be diplomatically correct rather than be spotted by a search-light on the lookout for the runner (in a different direction) to fast-track them to gallows.

And this is the reason why we observe multiple centers of power in this part of the world (Congress being an exception). This malaise has crept so deep that it guides every walk of our life; from traversing into any unknown direction. The path that it leads us to is the one too much travelled, and there is glaring evidence of it in the form of traffic. The fear of the unknown devil makes most of us travel the whole of our journey called life on this road. The rest, use it at specific points of time. The merry go round on this ring road keeps everyone spellbound, making us forget that this signal free stretch leads us back to square one. And if you thought this one (blog or blogger) is lost, trust me, being lost is the first step to making a discovery or at least being found.

The resulting system has most suitable people staying away from competing for running it and not surprisingly outperform in the limited roles they choose for themselves. Making the leaders look like an imposed one while the fact could most probably be a mediocre individual exhibiting the greatest form of leadership. So while the innocent leader thinks that the ball is in his court and he can play it the way he likes, it’s he who might actually be getting played. What he mistakenly takes for ball might actually be the buck, normal (diplomatic) people love to pass. The buck, which when passed is a hat-trick of sorts in the game of diplomacy.

The order of the day is to remain vigilant and skeptical of each and every trivial event like wishing birthdays. Actions, which were meant to be without any deeper motive are now seen and performed with ritual sincerity. While the diplomatic person bargains peace in the present, he bows seeds for a million conflicts. The mind and heart go on a civil war, while diplomatic people enjoy immunity like the microorganisms in our body on excess exposure to antibiotic.  

The abuse of freedom to decide and practice what interests the individual is one of the biggest roadblocks to the development of community. Even, the world economics stands witness to a shift from Smithian theory and capitalism in its crudest form. The unbalanced model where individuals decide in their own interest and yet contribute to the common cause of society is a flawed one. A defeatist approach would be to dole out a verdict or bring the debate to a diplomatic ending by leaving it open. In its’ journey, the buck stops at each one of us, play it or pass it, but do not ruin the game!!