It is a running joke amongst my friends about how many times I have seen the movie "A Few Good Men". I saw it again last evening and asked myself the question - "why do I keep seeing this movie so often".
The answer lies in my stand for honor - something that was ingrained in me by one Mr. K.S. Srinivasan, President of a company I worked for. KS, as he was called, handed me my offer letter and in his bid to discourage me from shopping around with it said - "always work for honor, Mr. Majumdar". I've tried to be honest about that aspect of corporate existence ever since.
The film "A Few Good Men" is full of characters, as you would expect in a courtroom drama. There is a victim, a couple of "innocents", a bundle of marines, a fair sprinkling of lawyers and all other garnishing. The single string that passes through each character, irrespective of which side of the story they are in, is their stand for honor - the character to stay faithful to what one believes in life and an unfailing persuasion of that belief. And this goes right from the marines who are accused of killing a weaker marine to the base commander and the defense lawyers (who incidentally do not uniformly believe that their client is innocent but respect their own honors nonetheless). There is just one character in the film who doesn't seem to have honor. It is Private William Santiago. Incidentally, he is the weak marine who gets killed at the base.
The corporate world I live in is mired by questionable ethics and constantly lowering standards of human values. Honor has clearly left the building. It is sometimes necessary to watch A Few Good Men just so I keep my mind clear in these turbulent times.
The answer lies in my stand for honor - something that was ingrained in me by one Mr. K.S. Srinivasan, President of a company I worked for. KS, as he was called, handed me my offer letter and in his bid to discourage me from shopping around with it said - "always work for honor, Mr. Majumdar". I've tried to be honest about that aspect of corporate existence ever since.
The film "A Few Good Men" is full of characters, as you would expect in a courtroom drama. There is a victim, a couple of "innocents", a bundle of marines, a fair sprinkling of lawyers and all other garnishing. The single string that passes through each character, irrespective of which side of the story they are in, is their stand for honor - the character to stay faithful to what one believes in life and an unfailing persuasion of that belief. And this goes right from the marines who are accused of killing a weaker marine to the base commander and the defense lawyers (who incidentally do not uniformly believe that their client is innocent but respect their own honors nonetheless). There is just one character in the film who doesn't seem to have honor. It is Private William Santiago. Incidentally, he is the weak marine who gets killed at the base.
The corporate world I live in is mired by questionable ethics and constantly lowering standards of human values. Honor has clearly left the building. It is sometimes necessary to watch A Few Good Men just so I keep my mind clear in these turbulent times.
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