Why do we always look outside for mistakes?

*Disclaimer: This blog, like most of my blogs, contains ideas, behaviors and expressions having an Indian audience in mind. Readers from other cultures may have differing views and behaviors.

Most of us have paid a bribe at some point in our life, yet we point fingers at others and act absolutely innocent when the topic of corruption arises.

We say our politicians and police officials are highly corrupt and incompetent, but we fail to realize that they too are a part of our community and it’s the entire community that needs to change.

Recently, we witnessed protests held at various parts of our country to improve safety for women in our cities but aren't we the same people who stare at a girl who is low-clad and blame her for being provocative? Why shouldn't a girl be allowed to wear what she wants when a guy can shamelessly urinate openly on the street?

We say our surroundings need to be kept clean and hygiene must be imbibed in our way of living, but we ourselves end up littering roads, blaming the municipality for not having enough garbage bins.

We all believe that casteism and racism need to be eradicated but end up mentioning preferences of caste (and even sub-caste) in online/offline matrimonial profiles.

Everyone believes we should help the poor and it’s immoral to look down upon them, but when approached by a beggar, we cringe, deride or even abuse them.

We feel other’s children are always making a mess or need to be controlled but when it comes to ours, they are just innocently playing around.

We yell out loud when a driver in another car drives rashly but when we do it ourselves, we say we’re in a hurry!

We get angry at anyone else who lies to us (in fact we preach to our kids to never lie) but all of us end up lying many times in our lives.

Why do we keep justifying our own actions and continue excusing our misdeeds? Why can’t we accept our mistakes and try to change instead? Why are humility and readiness to change so rarely seen these days? 

None of us is perfect and everyone has his/her merits and demerits. Let’s accept the faults and celebrate the virtues. Isn’t accepting failure the first step towards success? What do you think?