Daily Lessons from Life 04 September 2009

"ASIAONE / NEWS / EDUCATION / STORY - China schoolgirl aspires to be 'corrupt official': state media - Fri, Sep 04, 2009 AFP

BEIJING - A six-year-old girl has become a media darling in China on her first day of school by expressing her aspiration to become a "corrupt official" when she grows up, state media said Friday.

The young student stated her aspirations in a televised interview that was posted on a southern China website, leading bloggers to describe her comments as "a reflection of social reality," the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

"When I grow up I want to be an official," said the girl, whose face was blurred to protect her identity.

"What kind of official?" the interviewer asked.

"A corrupt official because corrupt officials have a lot of things," she replied.

Numerous other children appearing in the video were asked the same question, with many saying they wanted to become teachers, while others said they were not sure what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Many chatroom users praised the child for her "realistic" outlook on life, while others expressed cynicism over rampant corruption in China.

"Socialism has issued a new version of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'," said one posting.

"The ugliness of life has already tainted the children - how are we ever going to educate the next generation?" another posting said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has repeatedly warned that corruption is one of the greatest threats to the legitimacy of Communist Party rule."

This is a very revealing interview indeed. The innocent child spoke the truth. A truth that I am glad that most patriotic Chinese recognized. That corruption by the people in power will be the root cause of another revolution in the history of China!

Lessons for me are:

1. in a rapidly developing society, many opportunities to 'use or abuse' the authority vested in certain people will test the offical's resolve of being ethical. It is about his or her personal integrity. It is about the personal values of the person involved. What you desired will decide if you become corrupt or a good and just official!;

2. ethical conducts can be forced. This however will not last. As I frequently said: if compliance is defined as doing the right things when someone is watching, I would go for commnitment where it is defined as doing the right things when NO ONE is watching. If we want to have a long lasting and deeply rooted ethical values and behaviors, it has to start wit the individual!;

3. this means behaving as your walk, talk, and live your daily life. e.g. if you think the richer person is someonw who has more to give then you are less likely to become corrupt. e.g. if you believe that the reason to become a leader is so that you can achieve more things and create more values for the people who are NOT in our leadership position or who are less fortunate than us then you are less likely to be corrupt!

May the little girl grew up to realize that corruption official did enjoy a lot more things, but only for a short period of time, as the corrupted official can fooled someone sometime but he or she cannot fooled everyone all the time! He or she will be found out and the penalty will be swift and severe.!!