Self-healing Society
By Mohan Krishnamurthy

I recently visited an embassy to get some endorsements. I saw a security guard with a machine gun walking around and guiding the people to sit in order.

Whenever he passed me, his pointed machine gun created a scary feeling. I read in a newspaper sometime ago that a security guard elsewhere was killed when his rifle was accidentally discharged.

I observed the machine gun. There was a cap for protection; probably it needs to be unlocked before the deadly weapon can be fired.

But would he have sufficient time to unlock it in the event of an attack?

Is it possible to protect a society, a city, or a country with laws and by deploying security forces?

How to protect thousands of miles of railway track, ports, harbours, airports, tunnels, bridges and causeways?

Placing a security guard every 100 metres would mean the whole of the population joining the armed forces, to protect their country.

Let us be practical. It is impossible to establish security in this fashion.

When we stop the car when the traffic light is red, irrespective of whether there is a camera flashing, when we obey 'No Parking' zones even when there is no traffic policeman around, when we pay all our taxes and declare everything we should at Customs points, then we would be in the ideal world.

But such ideal conditions never exist in real world.

Are there any statistics on the percentage of criminals in the world?

As Epicurus said "As long as we are, death never comes. When death comes, we are not."

An individual or an establishment is secure as long as there is no attack. When there is an attack, the individual or the establishment becomes insecure.

I heard one of my friends saying that he once bribed a guy in a high security 'No Smoking' zone to let him have a cigarette.

The same friend puts out his cigarette when he talks to his parents, even over the phone.

Isn't it amazing? There are some fundamental ethics imbibed by our society and nurtured by our culture that restrict us from crossing certain boundaries.

Laws and regulations fail to convert the flamboyant writings of thick rule books into real practice. They say "Laws are for fools" and "Law makers are often law breakers".

When crimes are committed by the masses, justice fails to play a role. Justice is often delayed or denied totally.

The situation is not yet alarming though. We are talking about a society that can self-heal itself of social disease, lawlessness and social evil.

We are talking about a society that is self-disciplined, not run by law or law makers, but run by fundamental values, ethics and disciplines.

A self-disciplined society ensures that you do not require speed radars; you may not need heavily armed guards or X-ray scanners.

This huge investment could be utilised for the betterment, providing better civic amenities to the people and not on arms, ammunition and sophisticated security systems.