Police managers need enlightenment…

Today, on the first day of Diwali (the Hindu festival of lights), I passed appropriate greetings to Rajendra, a Hindu colleague…

As an aside, let me start by saying; I’m not a Hindu, neither have I ever been an active follower of any particular faith, religion or belief. That said, I do however believe in ethics, morality and the importance of possessing a strong sense of social rights and wrongs. It is important to understand how ones personal actions can impact upon others. I have found this ethos to be the mantra of most religions, at least if taken in their truest form, and before being manipulated by humans for their own purpose.

I also believe that by thinking this way; it helps you to be more tolerant and understanding of others. Personally, I am also fascinated by what people actually believe in and why they hold that belief. Especially if they have arrived at that belief after some cognizant thought process, as opposed to blind allegiance born out of tradition, indoctrination or parental type instruction. Now to continue with the crux of my post…

For several weeks now, Rajendra and I (with others) have been participating in debate about police management. As part of my greeting message, partly born out of my frustration at a lack of realistic progress but also in light of the Diwali festival ethos, I asked him; “I wonder when we will see victory of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance in the debate?” He replied; “Evil cannot win even when evil has power. we have won by speaking out”.

I had to agree that, no matter what the actual outcome of the debate, I can at least say that I have had input and hopefully, some positive influence on progression in the right direction. Progression that is based on service delivery to our communities and not, self-serving nepotism of police senior managers. As days get shorter and nights get longer we can still experience enlightenment, we just chose to be blind to the issues sometimes.

Perhaps some of those suffering from personal failure blindness would actually benefit from the other use that fireworks will be put to in a British festival today? An off course rocket up their backsides probably wouldn’t go amis!

Hinduism: the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma, a Sanskrit phrase meaning “the eternal law”. (Read more)