One day , I planned to go for a movie in last show with some of my friends. There was not heavy traffic on the road and I was driving as normal.  And one of the friend asked me a question. ..How much you rate your driving skill on a scale of 1 to 10 ?

Well, this question was not very surprising for me. These were friends staying in same building where I was staying. I was learning car that time and  I used to go office with these friend .  I was not a bad driver, but the way other people drive on the road is always scary for me.  Anyhow, so these guys were knowing ,  when I started learning the driving.  After some time , these guys moved out to an apartment in different building . we used to meet in office, but no more driving together . So when they see my driving after  more than a year, this question was quite normal, probably to check my confidence on driving .

I was not very aggressive driver. No rash driving and racing on road.  Never tried my skills on worst road conditions, but knew how to drive in city . I had good enough control on steering to drive through tight traffic in city. So I rated myself between 7  and 7.5.  My friend didn’t react on this answer.

After the show, when we were returning back , it was late night and very less traffic on the road. I was driving little fast , negotiating curves comfortably.

Now same friend told me that  he is agree to my 7/7.5 ratting of driving skill. And then he reveled, why he asked me the question and why earlier he was not impressed with my own rating.

I was driving  with discipline. I was continuously tracking the traffic behind me using rare view mirror and side view mirrors. I was avoiding overtaking from wrong side  and waiting for front vehicle to give me side.  I was avoiding to get in way of other vehicles  and changing lane when sufficient space is available for other driver to watch. When ever changing lane, I was using proper indicators, no matter if anybody close behind me or not.

My friend thought, I’m driving with so much of care because I still don’t have good control on car.  But in the night when he seen me driving fast with good negotiation on curves and other vehicles, he understood that I have control on my car. Even though I was driving with same discipline .

Now , this was surprising for me.  I was driving with discipline , because it is not only safe for me but also good for other drivers on the road.  Then why it was considered as my weak driving skill ?

I thought about it and realized that this logic is being used  everywhere. If we are honest and disciplined, very less people will appreciate it. Most of the people thinks that the person is having some weakness, that’s the reason he/she is following rules. If we break rules, we will be considered as cool and or we will be considered as powerful person. It is being assumed that person with good skills don’t follow rules.

Having this assumption, no one like to follow rules. Everyone what to project himself/herself as more powerful and more skilled than others.  And in this race , Honesty and Discipline have lost all their values.  In fact, being honest has become a kind of punishment these days. I have many examples in my life where I paid too much for being honest.  But that is topic for some time later.

Rules are being made for comfort of society, not for individual’s benefit.  But most of the people think about themselves and break rules for their own benefits.  Breaking rule creates domino effect.  Also , when some people gets benefited by breaking rules, others get motivated to break the rules. Until there is benefit of going with rules, very few people follows rules. And most of them are people those who understand meaning and importance of discipline.

Discipline is very very important for society and but now it is becoming a rare behavior.  Schools don’t impress upon discipline  anymore. Organizations want growth at any cost and so  don’t care about rules. Families want to show their power and so breaking rules. Then from where discipline will come in society  ?

I don’t have answer to this question. But I’m sure,  till the time people will think that being disciplined is a weakness ,  we will see very less people following rules. And we will continue damaging our society.