Outstanding People

What Makes a People Outstanding?

Indians are not an outstanding people. But there may be subgroups in India who may be outstanding. For example, some communities are outstanding in trade and finance, some other as soldiers, still some other in mathematics and sciences.

However, these subgroups put together do not make one great people. Great people are those subgroups and individuals who may or may not be outstanding on their own individual strength, but they produce outstanding results when they come together. Let’s say Germany. Could you name one famous German achiever of the 21^st century? I don’t know and probably you, too. Ditto Japan. To a less extent the US, due to its media heroes like Jobs etc.

We need to study the qualities that make a people great. Probably after years of researching nations such as Germany (let’s exclude Britain, which I often think of as the world’s greatest burglar until mid the 20^th century – but you don’t have to agree), USA, Japan etc., it may be possible to conclude qualities 1 to 10 that make these people great. However, if we just use rational observation, we might be able to say that one key quality makes people deliver outstanding results: let’s name it their national karma.

National karma is the people’s practice (karma or action) of a common code of conduct on day to day functions. Day to day functions are small things such as showing up at work in a presentable manner, queuing up at a ticket window, following the driving discipline, keeping one’s space clean, owning up one’s responsibilities, respecting women, making rational choices, not believing in miracles other than those created by human endeavour using maths and science: in short being predictable and reliable in a positive manner. If we are that, then we can be used as a collaborative and multiplying force to achieve the desired national goals.

We in Asia and the Middle East are nations with a lot of spiritual greatness, nations who take their religion very seriously, nations where several individuals are supremely gifted, nations with glorious past of military conquests or advancement in literature, dance, music and culture and nations owning great mineral wealth. In the present day we see a majority of the people of our nations suffering from internal strife, poverty, mutual exploitation, lack of opportunities, loss of ethics in public life and lawlessness.

Our nations our suffering from the pride of ‘have beens’ and ‘will bes’, a habit of looking back and looking forth, reassuring ourselves that we shall again be destined to greatness, imagining that the powerful and successful nations of today are built on the wrong foundations and the table would turn. However, we need to introspect and accept that our inner core of humanity is distinctly diseased and that it needs to be repaired and nourished before any greatness can be achieved. We need a code of conduct to live by. This code of conduct cannot be sourced from our revered religious books or vain talk of our leaders; it cannot be sourced from the biographies of our new billionaires and sporting or entertainment superstars.

Once I asked a senior Indian doctor, now a British citizen, who had been practising in a small English town for over 3 decades, as to what major differences did he find between the two races. His answer was quick and strong:”The Queen sent her emissaries to trade with and ultimately subjugate foreign lands and their peoples all around the world. In those days of poor transportation and communication, it would have been easy or tempting for these English commanders of the vanquished natives to never revert back to their Queen but spend the rest of their lives in cosy comfort as local lords. But no one ever tried that. Each emissary dutifully brought back the loot to Her Majesty. This honesty of purpose is seen in other aspects of life of the British, too, which greatly sets them apart from Indians.” If we look at the way the Japanese behaved in the aftermath of the 2011 Tsunami and how New Yorkers faced the superstorm Sandy of 2012, we learn a lot about greatness. We realize that despite China’s sparkling Olympics, India’s one million software engineers and Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth, we are not great nations.

And if we are humble enough to accept that we indeed need to learn to become great, we must respectfully study the recent 100 years of the growth of today’s great nations, notwithstanding their reducing GDP. The great ones among the declining rich nations will soon regain their economic greatness, too. Germany is already there and USA will rebound, too.