Essay topic:
“Corruption is corrosion. As rust corrodes metal, so corruption destroys the state apparatus and corrodes the moral foundations of society.
Everyone wants to live in a world without evil, envy, bribery and greed, in a world filled with love, goodness and happiness. But, in my view, at the present time, this prospect seems not so much unrealistic as it does not seem true. After all, everywhere you look, everything is only done for a bribe. So why has bribery existed in our world throughout its history and is it possible to eradicate it?
Corruption is one of the most pressing questions today. Let’s look in the dictionary to find out what corruption is. Corruption is the moral decay of officials and politicians through illicit enrichment, bribery, embezzlement and association with mafia structures. It is a term we have been confronted with since birth. In order to be born into good circumstances, we have to pay a bribe. To go to kindergarten we have to wait in long lines or pay again. To get into a decent school – a bribe. Getting into universities is a bribe. This story will continue until the end of our lives. These days even a good place in a cemetery is unlikely to be bought without a bill or gift.
Corruption can be summed up in the following words: “You give to me and I give to you”. After all, we have to figure out who is more guilty: the taker or the giver. Of course, we cannot lump everyone together. There are still people in our world who have conscience and honor in the first place, the so-called idealists, but they are very rare. Most of the time the world is built on bribery: officials are given gifts for favors, people are hired for certain amounts of money, criminal cases are closed, military deferments are granted. We don’t even notice it. It has become normal for us when we are demanded to pay money for certain actions. We don’t even bother to ask if it’s written down on some stamped paper or if it all goes into someone’s pocket.
So is it possible to get rid of corruption? Probably it is possible, but a lot of efforts should be made, not only by the state, but also by each person individually. To date, a lot of laws have been passed, but nothing changes. So what to do? In the modern world, of course, it is unlikely that they will chop hands and execute the guilty, but it is necessary to toughen the penalties for corrupt officials so that no one would even think of bribery. It is also possible to resort to a quick change of officials. When a person comes to any post, he will not immediately understand how and where to start snatching a sweeter slice and a bigger one. At first he will be looking closely, and then he’ll start to put his hands on someone else’s property. And by this time it is necessary to replace him with a new official. And so on in a circle. And in general, moral values should be brought up from an early age. Adults need to be an example to the younger generation, because children see everything, and then repeat after us with the thought: “Yeah, my brother or father or teacher did it, so I need to do it. This is the right thing to do. We need to take measures so that it would not be profitable for officials to take bribes, and it would not be profitable for people to give them. Officials already have huge salaries, and they need and want everything. What is the average salary in the country based on? Ordinary people get ten thousand a month and officials get two hundred, three hundred thousand a month. So that’s the “average” salary. And if we make everyone equal? Can anything change?
In my opinion, ordinary people play a significant role in resolving the issue of corruption. Officials and deputies simply do not benefit from it all. Why would they change something if their life is going well as it is?
My personal opinion on this matter is pessimistic. I think that corruption and bribery will never be eradicated from our world. And we don’t want it ourselves. For example, who wants to spend a week running around the offices for medical check-ups, when you can give a little present or money to a nurse, and in half an hour you’re free. The conclusion is that we ourselves allow corruption to flourish. This means that it is necessary to take such measures and cultivate such spiritual principles that it would be shameful and immoral to give a bribe, and to take it would be equal to a murder. But this is unlikely to happen one day, unless all mankind is subjected to some kind of hypnosis, so that all this would stick even in the deepest recesses of the brain.
Thus, we can say that corruption was, is, and will continue as long as there are people whose spiritual values are lower than their material ones. In order to change our world, each person must first change himself. And then, maybe, in the distant future, our great-grandchildren will live in an ideal world.
