Drawing room criticism

"That is absolutely useless. It serves no purpose at all." - a colleague's opinion about some aspect at the workplace, said during the course of a meeting sometime last week.

I have a problem with such blatantly dismissive statements. Or what I would call drawing_room_criticism, an aspect common to many a households across the world. I am sure each one of us has been "guilty" of this - sit in the luxury of our drawing rooms and criticise the government for not doing anything. Why do I have a problem with this? Because I have often noticed that even in situations where each one of us could contribute in some manner to a better society, all we do is sit in the drawing rooms and criticize. I know I have been culpable too. In fact as recently as last month when I was offered a senior position at work, and I refused. One of the many reasons I had for refusal (well, at least, in my own mind) was that I was unwilling to clean up the mess created by others. But everyday over a cup of coffee I indulge in criticising the very mess I am working with. When given a chance why didn't I really work towards cleaning up that mess then?

At a smaller level though, I believe, I make a conscious effort, and that is what annoyed me about the colleague's dismissive statement. That was a document he was referring to - a document that could easily have been modified, updated and improved upon. And if he believed it was so damn "useless", couldn't he have added some value to it? Can that really not be done? Why don't we want to take responsibilities, be accountable, yet are first to find fault with something, pick it apart and finally dismiss?

I remember during my college years, my father tried to persuade my sister to sit for the IAS exam; she being an extremely intelligent and politically aware person my father was sure she would crack it with no problem. My father was a conscientious government official who spent his entire life believeing in what he did and doing it the best way he could. She said she was not interested. The reason - the Indian Administrative Service sucked and was absolutely corrupt, and she was in no way interested in being a part of it. I recall now what my father's response was - "If that is what you feel about the service, join the system and try to change it from within. It is very easy to be outside of it and criticize." My sister did not become an IAS officer and my father gave away his entire life working for a system his own children never believed in. Today, almost 15 years after he has passed on, his department still thinks of him with reverence, and I understand better his passion for what he did and what he believed he could.