November 25, 2004

On second thought ...

I guess I will start early, since tomorrow has some relevance.

Tomorrow is my Iron Ring ceremony, a tradition throughout the country to recognize the responsibilities of being considered an Engineer. I've always found this to be a pretty neat tradition, but it is to my dismay that the event usually ends up becoming just another platform for engineers and engineering students to get drunk.

Ethics matter, and they can seriously take a person much further than his or her grades. Getting out of university successfully means your grades were good enough, not that you necessarily know everything you need to know. And amid all the books and books of formulas and theories and block diagrams, there is a one credit course regarding ethics that most students consider useless.

The Iron Ring should be about the ethics. One course will not teach a person ethics; 10 ethics courses won't either, for that matter. But in whatever way, it still needs to be emphasized.

True Islam will teach a person ethics; not by the study of books, but through awareness of ones accountability. To remain conscious of our accountability for our actions is the first step towards becoming ethical people.

We'll see what happens.

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