IAF grounded 60 MiG-21 Bison for checks after May 8.
Thus went a news headline of May 21, 2023. According to a veteran fighter pilot quoted in the news item, “…the MiG-21s with their design limitations can be highly unforgiving when coupled with inadequate flying skills, lack of situational awareness and errors of judgement by pilots”.
Most of us may not drive for perfection in all areas of our respective lives, but we do have at least one activity, one output or one dimension of our day-to-day living that is disciplined or in-order in some or the other way – it may be our morning routine, the cuppa, preparing the bed, folding our handkerchief, placement of the comb or helmet or wallet, polishing our shoes, watering plants, grooming the pet, how we partake water or the time of our meals, and so on. That activity and its output defines us to ourselves. Knowingly or unknowingly our feedback of the day is deeply intertwined with the self-assessment of how we carried out that activity and to what effect – that is our itch.
The itch is contagious because we also start to keenly observe how others connected to us engage in that task and often judge them by that. We have these standards, you see… a yardstick which, ok, none can see except us! And we beat others by it, like we beat ourselves with it when a lapse happens.
We well be reminded of Leonard Cohen’s lyrics, “There is a crack, a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in”. A story from the Sri Sri Shiva Sutras attests to the tribulations of the infallible:
There was a famous locksmith; it was said nobody could make a lock as he. One night when he was with the kind, a band of robbers came and put him and the king in handcuffs, and robbed them. The king said, “I am not worried as you are with me”. In the morning, the locksmith looked at the locks on the handcuffs and started crying, “I made this lock and I never do a second rate job. So, nobody can pick this lock. Even breaking them open will be hard” .
The destinies of MiG-21s and the locksmith offer a very important life-lesson to us.
DO NOT BE UNFORGIVING. We are all imperfect and never fully equipped to deal with all and everyone. Being forgiving does not mean to agree all the time, but to BE AGREEABLE. One is said to have an unforgiving disposition when s/he is unable to forgive across a range of situations and over time. And the good news is that one can “learn to be forgiving”. Worthington suggests working on our dispositional qualities, viz. “qualities related to the self and work on the stability of our self-esteem first, followed by modifications of attitudes of pride and enhancing humility”.
Forgiveness is connected to longevity. Studies show that it can lower the risk of heart attack, improve cholesterol levels and sleep, and reduce pain. And everything reverse happens when we are unforgiving as we build up the stress that naturally succeeds any unforgiving stance. We are not made to be unforgiving and the unnaturalness of the act backfires.
Let us be compassionate, keep room for error and also let others enjoy that space. Be humble – is Human, will Err. Exercise discretion.
Do not be a MiG-21.
Shubhachintan 