Once you are there, it is difficult to come out. Quagmires are evil. They seem benign, until you get caught inside one. They are not visible to the unsuspecting eye. But there they are, waiting to gobble up anything that comes their way. Once there, there's no getting out.
Quagmires are a natural physical phenomena but figuratively, they can represent many other aspects of life. Debt, sorrow, wars, crises, social tensions, toxic relationships and so on. It's not just about persons. Whole systems, communities or societies and even countries can be be caught in quagmires of varied kind.
Endemic corruption is one such quagmire that can engulf an entire country. These days, a new story is making rounds here. It's about the statement from a leading bureaucrat about endemic financial malpractice inside his own organization. Ironically, that organization is supposed to be the vanguard of making sure financial activities, especially at the public organizations' level, are free of malpractices and corruption. He, either with intent or inadvertently, accepted that his entity was having endemic malpractice and something tantamount to policy corruption across its hierarchy.
Being a public sector employee, it might seem hypocritical for me to be writing this. But I have my own struggles with this issue. The way people talk to us public workers, the way they (especially those involved in trade, business or other transactions with the entity we work in) approach us in business related dealings are so embarrassing and spiteful. It is as if being in this sector is an automatic qualification for you to be deemed corrupt or with a natural disposition to do shady deals for personal benefit. If you are otherwise, there is a constant struggle to prove otherwise. Having to respond to those scathing but indirect references, about past deals with other persons or groups in your entity, similar deals in the past, lure of so called 'personal welfare', references to the cost of living and your income not being high enough for your 'standard' and so on. It continues and you just have to digest that with a red face, banging heart and boiling frustration mixed with anger.
There is a popular adage attributed to a former ruler that both the taker and giver of bribes are enemies of state but the general perception is that only the takers (esp. those in public responsibilities) are to blame and the other party of the transaction just 'had no alternative but to pay'. This might be true in some cases but in many others, perhaps the giver also tries to get a shortcut and easier way out with a little expense. Anyways, there are probably 'other ways' for the giver to recuperate that 'investment', now that the giver is aware of the Achile's heel as far as the 'taker' is concerned. Giver knows how to get things done and how to turn the table on the taker if needed.
Of course a public responsibility is a serious one and demands more care. Of course a position of public service is supposed to be more transparent and better regulated. But what if the very entity supposed to enforce such standards finds itself caught in the same quagmire it is supposed to prevent others from falling into? That means further sense of helplessness and adds fuel to the fire of disillusion towards the whole system. No wonder so many people think that nothing good happens here and tend to look elsewhere for a more fulfilling, progressive and prosperous life. Not that running away is the only solution but these increasingly regular cases of malpractice at the institutional level, lack of positive inspiration, prevalence negative role models and a sense of good-for-nothing-ness regarding your state, your society and your surroundings forces you to chose lesser of the two evils. In many cases, going away is considered the lesser one.
Given one's limited abilities, scope of responsibility and constrained authority, often there is very little one can do. However, adhering to one's own positive standards despite the frequent direct and indirect pinches and piercings is probably the best one can do. If this adherence can be sustained over the professional tenure without any significant dent, probably that is the greatest accomplishment of a public worker. That is, if the worker has a personal disposition towards maintaining those standards and not running after earning by hook or crook. After all, a lot depends upon the standards one sets for oneself and the strength of one's character to stick to those standards, no matter what. Not falling back is so much more difficult than attaining a height.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/quagmire-krishna-bhandari
