COMMITMENT

 

Commitment is a uniformly respected attribute. Ironically this is often prescribed for others and conveniently relegated, if not abandoned by individuals. A topic of this kind carries the risk of suggesting hypocrisy and needs being handled with utmost care.  Analyzing the intricacies requires a committed patience and a willingness to get involved in the theme. Obviously the effort is a knife-edge walk that can readily injure. Yet, one has to strive to get at the facts that constitute the complex phenomenon –the commitment.  My idea of calling it complex is based on the degrees of variation with which a person seems to differ in commitment from time to time. It is clear that, commitment is not the character of the individual but more an attitude of a person to a work / task on hand. Significantly, all of us do differ in our commitment profiles, besides holding varying attitudes to occasions. However, it is essential to observe rigidities only when there is justification. If so, what is it that one has to understand of this intriguing attribute?

     Basically, committed approach helps to bring out the very best and in quick time. It demands a serious disposition to people and work. Like all other positive attitudes, commitment by itself is a demanding exercise. One has to fully understand all the aspects related to a function / work before evolving a meaningful commitment. In fact, when various other requisites come together in accomplishing a task, commitment has an occasion to set in. This type of origin to an attribute is unique to commitment. I have not come across an individual who is both incompetent and committed. On the contrary, quite a few competent people are less committed. Probably, acquisition of other required functionalities creates a mental disposition to commitment.                                                                                     

       By any assessment, I believe that commitment is more a will to do, rather than the skill of doing. Being a mental disposition, factors determining the process are highly personalized and exclusive to each individual. A common base for all forms of commitment is motivation, though the motivating element need not be common to all. Motivation and commitment together form a positive amalgam. It is a moot point as to which leads the other. At best, the two can be conceived of as mutually inclusive and influential. In the ultimate analysis what matters is the effect that fructifies from this blend. All human efforts should lead to elevation in any sphere- mental, intellectual, economic and social. These are intertwined and hard to be treated in isolation.   A question that stays aloft among people is “why I should be committed”? Some people believe that commitment is for those holding positions and wielding authority / power. Practically, status has nothing to do with commitment. But, committed efforts can render stature to any one. The society holds some in high esteem for the stature borne out of their commitment. Any one conscious of the human values would cherish the attendant benefits of the relationship that keeps the circle of friends expanding.  Those known for their commitment also suffer from their own battle of wits with their immediate environments of not-so-sensitive official hierarchy and slackened attitudes of personnel in authority. The honest among the committed undergo inner turmoil from their hapless state of inability to curb this silent violence on the society. What keeps the committed from slipping off is their honesty in adherence to values. Therefore commitment per se is not a tall virtue unless blended with honesty. Honesty can never be infused to any one. It is a providential gift to the blessed few who strive to serve the system.                                                                       Prof. K.Raman