Take from a man his
reputation for probity, and the more shrewd and clever he is, the more hated
and mistrusted he becomes.
-
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Recognized probity is
the surest of all oaths.
-
Suzanne Curchod
The wave of mass hysteria that
has accompanied the ball tampering incident in South Africa in which Australian
cricketers Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were involved should,
ideally demand puzzling facial expressions from people, who regularly follow
cricket.
“What’s
new? Everyone has been doing it for ages.”
Of course! Everyone has
indeed been doing it for ages. Ever since we started following cricket, ball tampering
is part of the game...a ‘mistake’ and
not such an unpardonable ‘crime’. The
International Cricket Council, in its ‘Laws of cricket’ also does not elevate
ball tampering to such an unpardonable offence, going by the penalties that
follow. It’s there, perhaps, will be there, but why is this meriting such
maddening coverage with two batting icons getting period bans and even the
Prime Minister of Australia wading into this?
Yes, of course, top guys
are involved. But, the difference lies in ‘committing a mistake’ and ‘planning
to commit a mistake’. When you commit a mistake, it is considered forgivable, though
it is an offence.
Take school, college.
“I
am sorry, I copied in the exam”
But when you ‘plan’ to copy in an exam, the magnitude of the offence is altogether
different. More so, when you are a role model for other fellow students.
The ‘planning to commit a crime’ changes the outlook of the viewer of
the crime.
The person who committed the crime – Cameron Bancroft - is not so
much the person in the line of public scorn as he is a greenhorn - they are
expected to be naive and there are pardons reserved for them. In fact there are
voices that he was made to commit the crime by the others. The person who
supposedly was the mastermind – David Warner – does not have much public
sympathy either way – he, despite being a brilliant batsman, is known to be
boorish, has ticked the list of crimes you expect wild cricketers to do; it is
like he is expected to ‘commit’ a crime! We have seen numerous run-ins of ‘bad boy’ David Warner with the law –
drunken behaviour, bar brawls, physical contact, sledging et al - that this does not matter.
Which leaves us with the
third and most important guy in the picture – Steve Smith. He is does have the typical
‘Ugly Aussie’ image, but is not in the
same ‘exalted’ (pun intended, of course!) place as his mate, Warner. He has the
highest batting average among living cricketers and the highest ever since
Donald Bradman. Whatever he touches turns to gold. More often than not, he performs
even when the team is not doing well. Captain of the Australian cricket team and
aged just 28 years, everything was going for him. Young cricketers, children – he
is one of the icons they all look up to. One could not help but feel sorry as
he was escorted by the South African police at the Johannesburg Airport for a
plane to Australia, to cries of ‘cheat’ –
like a criminal.
So, a role model is
expected to be just that – you cannot afford to keep a foot wrong; if you do, you
are shamed more than what a regular offender would be. The need for probity in public
life weighs all the more when you are famous, a role model, a person others
look up to.
It shatters a person who
looks up to someone, when the latter is not what he made out to be. Role models
are supposed to be inspiring. They are looked up to by many, as the others seek
to achieve what their role models did. In many homes, they occupy such price of
place as the family reserves for one of their own. Many a time, you cannot
replace a role model.
Ever since school and into
my teens, my role model in sport was the Indian cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin.
The unique magic he brought on to the batting arena coupled with his soft
spoken nature and ethics – one of the few batsmen who would walk even without
appeals if he knew he was out – endeared him to me. So, I was gutted when he
was involved in the match fixing scandal. I felt really bad for having been a
huge fan, a support of this person for long. He is not in on that pedestal any
more.
In many ways, role models
form part of your lives. We grieve more profoundly for people who have been
part of our lives. Yes, none of us is black or white; we all have shades of
grey. But the role models are not supposed to be cheats in the eyes of their
unforgiving followers.
When a role model does
something that is not expected of him to do, he loses public sympathy, is left without
friends, is target of anger and more importantly, falls from grace. Life is not
the same anymore. So the temptation to commit a mistake should not be yielded
to. You will be labelled a cheat for life. There is simply no room for error on
that account.
Low levels of ethics are a given in public life, so much so, that
the phrase ‘probity in public life’ almost
sounds like an oxymoron. But, it still holds good for role models, people who
are looked up to. They don’t have the luxury of committing mistakes and getting
on with life expecting the same levels of adulation. It is very difficult to rebuild
trust.
“Sorry,
it was an error in judgement....” No apologies cut the ice,
you are tainted. You are a fallen hero; you stay fallen.
Becoming famous is easier;
staying famous is not.
