In an otherwise boring debut for Pearce Brosnan as 007 in 'GoldenEye', the one intriguing scene is set at the graveyard of statues outside St. Petersburgh. All the adored heroes of the Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik (USSR) became the villainous thugs of an oppressive government, the day the USSR fell. Their statues were unceremoniously dumped in this park (it actually exists), which becomes a symbolic background to a scene when the turncoat 006 accuses 007 of being an anachronism, an instrument of the exploitative old order. The outcome of the scene is forgettable - but the image of giant monuments of larger-than-life heroes lying in ruins, stayed in memory.
This year brings back that scene to my mind- a year that has been a mausoleum of reputations, with each day bringing in another broken colossus, destined to erode into featureless headstones among the glittering cenotaphs of history.
The latest to fall is Lance Armstrong, winner of 7 Tour De France jerseys, which was a superhuman achievement. I am an avid follower of the Tour and thought his victories to be symbolic of the triumph of the human spirit. And now we find that there is little doubt that he has used banned performance enhancers, again and again. How would we feel if Ovid came along now and told us that the 12 tasks of Hercules were rigged and he was really just a regular guy with a hunger for the limelight? What is galling is not that Lance hoodwinked us, but that he did it so crudely. He just bullied, strong-armed his team into doping, and brazened it out in public to the point of unbelievable audacity. Didn't he feel a twinge of guilt, when so many people loyally supported his version of the story? They say the story of Hercules represents the ancient Greek idea of Pathos- the experience of virtuous struggle and suffering which would lead to fame and immortality. The story of Lance was high on struggle, suffering and achievement too - but the modern English derivative Pathetic, applies better to this outcome.
Rajat Gupta, erstwhile chairman of McKinsey, board member of Goldman Sachs, a man who had everything. Millions of Indians look upon on him as role model. And now he is in the dock, awaiting sentencing, after violating the trust placed upon him in a most unsubtle way. How can a man of such intellectual achievements be capable of such paltriness?
The list is seemingly endless. Ramalinga Raju, a man quoted extensively for his sagacious insights in Thomas Friedman's book, Flat and Crowded, decides to end his career by fudging books like a grocery store clerk would.
What drives these people to such depths of foolishness? Foolishness, because it was only a matter of time before they were found out, so brazen were their transgressions. Why would one sacrifice one's god-given gifts at the altar of greed? I don't get it. The only explanation: Like the scorpion who stings the horse even at the cost of its life says: "It is my nature and I can't do otherwise".
Thus it seems that the wisdom of our simple parables endures even in this modern and sophisticated age. So many stories, sayings come to mind:
- The story of the man who gets a wheel of torture on his head, simply because he doesn't stop wanting more
- The story of the Scorpion and the horse
- The saying, 'Vinasha Kale, Vipareeta Buddhi'
and so on. No wonder greed figured so prominently in our fables- definitely an enduring human failing.
But I guess there is a moral for spectators: Look at any public hero with a suspicious eye- clay feet seem to be regulation issue for such idols. Remember that the real heroes are the unsung ones, the doctors who serve our poor, the social workers who help our destitute, the mothers who make us human with their infinite patience and love.
This year brings back that scene to my mind- a year that has been a mausoleum of reputations, with each day bringing in another broken colossus, destined to erode into featureless headstones among the glittering cenotaphs of history.
The latest to fall is Lance Armstrong, winner of 7 Tour De France jerseys, which was a superhuman achievement. I am an avid follower of the Tour and thought his victories to be symbolic of the triumph of the human spirit. And now we find that there is little doubt that he has used banned performance enhancers, again and again. How would we feel if Ovid came along now and told us that the 12 tasks of Hercules were rigged and he was really just a regular guy with a hunger for the limelight? What is galling is not that Lance hoodwinked us, but that he did it so crudely. He just bullied, strong-armed his team into doping, and brazened it out in public to the point of unbelievable audacity. Didn't he feel a twinge of guilt, when so many people loyally supported his version of the story? They say the story of Hercules represents the ancient Greek idea of Pathos- the experience of virtuous struggle and suffering which would lead to fame and immortality. The story of Lance was high on struggle, suffering and achievement too - but the modern English derivative Pathetic, applies better to this outcome.
Rajat Gupta, erstwhile chairman of McKinsey, board member of Goldman Sachs, a man who had everything. Millions of Indians look upon on him as role model. And now he is in the dock, awaiting sentencing, after violating the trust placed upon him in a most unsubtle way. How can a man of such intellectual achievements be capable of such paltriness?
The list is seemingly endless. Ramalinga Raju, a man quoted extensively for his sagacious insights in Thomas Friedman's book, Flat and Crowded, decides to end his career by fudging books like a grocery store clerk would.
What drives these people to such depths of foolishness? Foolishness, because it was only a matter of time before they were found out, so brazen were their transgressions. Why would one sacrifice one's god-given gifts at the altar of greed? I don't get it. The only explanation: Like the scorpion who stings the horse even at the cost of its life says: "It is my nature and I can't do otherwise".
Thus it seems that the wisdom of our simple parables endures even in this modern and sophisticated age. So many stories, sayings come to mind:
- The story of the man who gets a wheel of torture on his head, simply because he doesn't stop wanting more
- The story of the Scorpion and the horse
- The saying, 'Vinasha Kale, Vipareeta Buddhi'
and so on. No wonder greed figured so prominently in our fables- definitely an enduring human failing.
But I guess there is a moral for spectators: Look at any public hero with a suspicious eye- clay feet seem to be regulation issue for such idols. Remember that the real heroes are the unsung ones, the doctors who serve our poor, the social workers who help our destitute, the mothers who make us human with their infinite patience and love.
