The Supreme Religious Authority: Prioritizing The Public Interests Above Self-Interest Requires The Ruler Or Those In Power To Be An Example In Society
The representative of the Supreme Religious Authority, Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi Al-Karbala'i has showed in Friday’s sermon delivered at the Holy Shrine of Imam Hussain "pbuh", the rules and ways to be considered by everyone in order to prioritize public interests over self-interest.
Al-Karbala'i said on Friday December 21, 2018, that it is important to take care of the ethical and intellectual system, noting that egocentricity is the concept that leads individuals to prioritize their self-interests above public interests.
"It is necessary for educational establishments to care about educating people about the ethical and intellectual systems, starting with the family, school and governmental entities", Al-Karbala'I added.
He also pointed to the importance of one to be aware that the rest of the individuals in society are fellow human beings that also wish to reach gain for themselves, noting that even if those individuals were different in terms of religion, ethnicity or denomination, are still his or her brothers in faith or equals in humanity.
The representative of the Supreme Religious Authority has stressed on the necessity of the clarification and definition of altruism and its benefits as an ethical system that encourages people to take care of others people's benefits and sacrifice for them, demonstrating that when a public servant delivers a certain service for people, they will serve him/her in return; but if he/she didn’t provide such service, they will do the same for him/her. And for those who serve only themselves, their tribes, or political or social entities, they will face the same consequences and shall lose many benefits for not assisting others, for example, if you live among (1000) persons and provided the required services for them, you will benefit from (999) persons of them and vice versa if you didn’t.
He added that “One of the basic rules for putting the public interests over the self-ones is to provide a good environment for such rule," noting that it means that those in power should be a good example for this issue.
Al-Karbala'i has called on the legislative and executive institutions to protect the public interests by enacting laws and enforcing them, noting that education and preaching are, sometimes, inadequate to achieve the results sought after.
Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi Al-Karbala'i has concluded that observing public interests will reflect positively on everyone, and if any narrow-mind figure had put his/her own interest over the public one, it will deliver damage on everyone and will lead to wasting teamwork and people's efforts and abilities.
