To be or not to be ?

Quite cliched as the post title may be, I revisit the question applied to my indecision on morality and the action of abiding by the law. I am still stuck in the quandary as to whether the answer has to be so binary or is there really an optimal solution to the question of being ethical. Neglecting the correctness of  Hazare and his army's movement towards political purging, I pose the question to myself : Should I fight till death to stave off corruption from my life, no matter how ugly the situation is, or is it reasonable to try very hard till it gets to the point of seeming unpragmatic and foolish? Alternatively choose the other extreme path of rejecting integrity by reasoning that the system is so corrupt that irrespective of my behavior, all my contributions would either way end up filling the personal coffers of the evil rulers.

At the risk of omitting deviations, my past has been substantially corruption free, whether it was school, work or for that matter, while obtaining a driving license or my passport, which are quite rampant corruption-free-free areas. Substantial, but not altogether. I have on an occasion or two doled out extra dough to the brokers to acquire reserved train tickets or movie tickets which we commonly call 'in black'. I accept that my confession does not make me any more virtuous. However, I take the initiative to pledge for the future. The question of whether corruption (pertinent to country like India) is avoidable still remains? To that, after much deliberation and a defeated idealist argument, I feel the answer is 'largely: yes; entirely : (muffled) no'. 

While sounding highly opinionated, I reject the defense on the lack of self-integrity by individuals who point their finger at the governing system, without practicing at home. The aim of embracing corruption is to illegitimately increase personal wealth or to use that wealth to bend rules to your advantage/luxury. And I believe strongly that, with such a mentality, irrespective of the location in the world and the degree of muck in the system, one would if one could. I conclude this post with an open ended question, if absolute cleanliness is utopian, what is the optimum? Where do we draw the line if such attributes are highly subjective? 

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On a separate note, I refuse to be a part of the facebook frenzy of echoing news already evident. Earnest actions have demonstrated the potential to overturn Governments (hail Wael), but more often than not it is quite convenient to participate in a virtual rally than join a physical movement. I understand your love-hate sentiments for the Indian cricket team, your veneration for Steve Jobs, or the hatred for the Late Mr.Osama-bin-Laden, and above all, the right and freedom of expression, I can only be thankful to Zuck for collapsing similar content in the recent update.

Boy am I glad to be back in blogosphere :D