Hari is an obsessive smoker. Many a time he has tried to quit the cancer stick. But whenever he tired, he was able to abstain from it only for a few days. The urge to smoke was stronger than his resolve to relinquish smoking. He still smokes, puffing at cigarettes with a vengeance that seems to imply that he is making up for the lost hours and days of abstinence!

It is not easy to give up even a single bad habit for the simple reason that we find it easy and convenient to continue with it, while the way of giving it up is difficult and full of obstacles. The most common bad habit of lying, cheating and stealing are picked up in childhood.

Telling an innocuous lie early in life could lead to lying becoming a habit later on, if the child is not reprimanded the first time he/she errs. Having escaped punishment, the child is emboldened and errs again and again, till lying becomes a habit.

Similarly, once a cheat or thief goes scot-free, he/she may repeatedly commit the same crime. The seeds of crime sown earlier in life and continued through adolescence see the birth of a hard-core criminal in adulthood.

Parents, particularly the mother, at times, ignore the bad habits of their children, nipping the evil in the bud (seemingly innocent lies, follies and thefts in childhood) usually acts as a deterrent. Most commonly, pampered children or orphans develop bad habits which later on become anti-social traits in their character. No one is shocked these days when a neighbour’s daughter elopes with someone, or when a friend or relative is caught receiving a bribe. In fact, bribery, beating wives, using abusive language in public, premarital sex, infidelity and same sex affairs come to be more or less accepted by society.

However, there is no need to despair. There are those whose fine qualities and habits make them examples for others. They are good and empathetic and live by the principle of shunning temptation.

Let us, therefore, give up our old habits and incorporate civility and etiquette in out lives and inspire others to do so too. It could make a whole lot of difference and bring sunshine, radiate happiness and serenity into not only our lives, but into society too.