Saturday, June 23, 2007

Government Official Logic

In the IEd hearings, I heard the following argument: I do not remember whether I did “X” or not. But I am an experienced government official, so I know it is wrong to do “X”, hence I would not have done it. So I did not do it.

I did no wrong. Now I am wrongly accused of doing something wrong. It is because I tried too hard to do my job. It is an intolerable insult of my dignity. I resign in protest.

There is some twisted logic in there, don’t you think?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In more understandable language: "I should be on a pedestal for working hard, but I am now the victim for working hard."

I have been hearing this 問心無愧 countless times for the past 10 years, not only from resigning government officials, but also from top executives in commercial, NGOs, or academic institutes. I, though a small potato, even caught myself murmuring this, and playing victim. Now, I tell myself this is a highly dangerous game. I claim to act based on my conscience. But my conscience has been eroded over the years, and far from perfect. So my actions based on my conscience means nothing much. Or, 無愧 because the 心 isn't even there.

The Bible says there isn't any righteous person, not even one. We all fall short of God's standard. Jesus is the only way out of this mess we are in.

StephenC said...

I agree it is insufficient to feel that I have done no wrong, since my standards, my judgements, and my memory may all be faulty.