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EDITORIAL |
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Year : 1991 | Volume
: 39
| Issue : 1 | Page : 1 |
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Compromising With mediocrity
S Tony Fernandez
CBM Ophthalmic Institute, Little flower Hospital, Angamally 683 572, Kerala, India
Correspondence Address: S Tony Fernandez CBM Ophthalmic Institute, Little flower Hospital, Angamally 683 572, Kerala India
Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None | Check |
How to cite this article: Fernandez S T. Compromising With mediocrity. Indian J Ophthalmol 1991;39:1 |
"Great men reach the pinnacle of fame by hard work, self sacrifice and a sense of devotion to their vocation. These people achieve their goal by their dedication and strive for excellence in any work they undertake. These are the few who excel themselves, stand out from the majority and reach an enviable position.
We have millions of people in India, the most highly populated nations in the world after China. We have also a large number of scientists, medical personnel and technocrats. We can be proud of the great heritage we have. But how many Indians have reached the top in the world of sports, science or literature. Very few indeed! Inspite of having thousands of athletes only one P.T.Usha could go anywhere near the Olympic bronze. Why do we lag behind in every field? Because we do not work hard enough to achieve excellence. By nature we are lazy people and would like to compromise for mediocrity."
I do not know whether I have succeeded in bringing out the essence of an excellent speech made by Dr. C.N.R. Rao, Director, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, at the inaugural function of the 49th conference of the All India Ophthalmological Society.
The theme of the speech has great relevance to our life. If we have to progress in any field we have to change our attitudes and strive hard to achieve perfection. We have to train our young generation to explore new avenues, especially in scientific research. They must be taught to think originally and not just to follow or blindly copy what has already been done in the more developed countries. If science has to grow in our country we have to create a scientific climate for development. We have to train them rigorously and persistently, to perfection - as tennis coaches train their stars. They must be trained to take challenges and strive to reach the goal of perfection.
There are some excellent eye institutes in India which have come up thanks to the hard work and excellent leadership given by certain outstanding individuals. But for a vast subcontinent like India the number is small. As ophthalmologists we should be able to give a high quality of vision to our people. Let us take the advice of Dr. Rao and create centres of excellence, and encourage bright young people to strive their utmost to bring name and fame to our country in basic research and clinical studies.
We have enough clinical material; what we need is a strong will - a will to achieve excellence. Let us not "compromise with mediocrity".
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