Awards

When someone working for social causes delights in getting an public award, something is fundamentally wrong. Or for that matter, anyone working on anything.

 

Gangadharan Kumar Why so? The person may not have done it for the award in the first place. Isn't the positive feeling of being acknowledged a fundamental human nature?

 

Aparna Krishnan 1. The work has to be its own reward - and is 2. Unless the sense on Me and Mine becomes smaller and smaller, that can and will always distract from the essential activity.

 

Aparna Krishnan The shepherd playing the flute will not care about being called to a meeting and awarded. It will seem silly to him and all others. Yes, I might ask him to play it again under the tree and he will do so willingly. That is all the acknowlegement that is natural. Further than that, seeking name and fame, is a perversion. Into which people are socialized.

 

Malini Parmar I actually feel the reverse. I feel the more recognition a person gets, more the cause gets highlighted and spreads the message further. And how does it matter if a person did it for ego as long as the cause got served.

 

Aparna Krishnan yes, sometimes we go ahead with some ceremony simply because it does get the cause some attention. but that essential indifference to all these distractions is important. for personal as well as political reasons.

 

Harish Chandra Hmm :)

 

Aparna Krishnan ?

 

Harish Chandra I think it is theoretically a correct sentence and most of the time's it is true, but their are exception's, For eg: awards to people like Kailash Satyarthi, Anna Hazare, Sunitha Krishnan will make their cause spread among the people. How many people does know that you are working in a remote village by being as one among them. An award to people like you who are completely in to community work can make your cause spread awareness and motivate people to take the path you have chosen.

 

Aparna Krishnan no. the greatest works have been done without awards. the greatest of people i have known have ignored awards and worked day and night. and from that deep sincerity, much happens. Gandhi never needed an award to promote his cause. Nor Bose. nor Ambedkar.

 

Aparna Krishnan awards only fuel the ego. and distract from both public work and personal growth.

 

Harish Chandra True a real social worker shouldn't desire for an award rather success in their work is their true reward. Where as award's automatically come to them like Kailash Satyarthi who won Nobel prize for his work on child slavery..

 

Aparna Krishnan i hope he was personally indifferent to it. Awards can corrupt - the human mind is such. Pride lurks around the corner unless one has seen reality and one's utter insignificance very clearly.

 

Harish Chandra I agree.

 

Shanmuganathan Subramanian Has there been any study done on the effects of awards on the person, the rest of the team and the work ? Is this unfair or a difficult thing to do?

 

Aparna Krishnan Shanmuganathan Subramanian waste of time. Awards themselves are a waste of time. Now you want a study on them !!

 

Shanmuganathan Subramanian I wanted to know if they are a waste of time as you say or are positively detrimental to the person, team or work. That would explain why there are so many awards sponsored/given by people/org antithetical to the work itself. Eg. Green /Environmental awards sponsors.

 

Aparna Krishnan Detrimental.

 

Sridhar Lakshmanan Here people are not able to understand why poor people can't use e banking , and you are talking abt all this. very tough very very tough