### When the body of conscience decays, people find justification for injustice
The quality that distinguishes humans from other animals the most is their conscience. Conscience teaches people what is right and what is wrong. Whether a person is educated or uneducated, rich or poor—if his conscience is awake, he cannot find peace even if he does wrong. But the sad thing is that when this conscience decays, people no longer consider injustice as injustice. Instead, they find various excuses and try to justify it.
Everyone makes small mistakes. But the feeling of guilt that awakens within us after making a mistake is the vigilance of conscience. For example, if someone lies, a feeling of guilt arises within him. He thinks, "I should not have said that." But when he starts lying repeatedly, that feeling of guilt gradually fades. Then he puts forward arguments to prove his lie right. At some point, he starts believing that what he has done is not wrong at all. This is where the decay of conscience begins.
The tendency to seek justification for injustice is seen at almost every level of society. If we look at politics, we see that many politicians, even while involved in corruption, say—“Everyone is doing it, what is the fault if I do it?” Businessmen also make excuses by selling adulterated products—“If you don’t do it, there will be no profit, it will be difficult to survive in the market.” Students cheat in exams and argue—“If you don’t cheat now, you won’t get good results.” Again, in personal life, many people make excuses even after breaking up with a relationship—“I didn’t harm anyone.” In every case, we see that people are making excuses to cover up their mistakes or injustices.
When injustice is repeatedly justified in this way, it is not limited to the individual, but spreads to the entire society. People see that no one is punished for doing wrong, but often achieves success. Then even the common people think that there is no benefit in being honest. Gradually, the distinction between truth and falsehood becomes blurred in society. Corruption, fraud, and moral decay spread everywhere. Eventually, a situation arises where people mistake truth for weakness.
The biggest danger of a decayed conscience is that a person does not ask himself any questions. He no longer criticizes himself. He thinks that whatever he is doing is right. However, if a person took a little time to look inside himself, he would understand that his actions are wrong. But when conscience becomes dull, the door to self-criticism also closes.
When conscience is lost, not only the individual but also the entire family, society, and state are harmed. Because a corrupt person not only harms himself, he harms the entire system. A liar not only destroys his credibility, he spreads distrust in the entire society. A corrupt businessman does not only see his own profit, he destroys the health of countless people.
Therefore, it is very important to maintain the vigilance of conscience. People should regularly ask themselves—“Am I really on the right path? Isn’t my work harming others?” If we can keep this place of self-criticism active at every step of life, then conscience will never rot. And even if it does rot, we must have the courage to accept it and set a new path.
Making mistakes is not a sin, the sin is clinging to mistakes. Doing wrong may be a weakness of the past, but trying to legalize wrong is truly terrible. No matter how great a person is, no matter how powerful he is, if his conscience becomes blind, his destruction is inevitable. History has proven time and again that permanent progress is never possible by standing on wrong.
Finally, it can be said that we have to protect ourselves from the rot of conscience. We have to organize our lives in the light of truth and honesty. Because losing conscience means moving away from being human. And when conscience is awake, even if a person makes a mistake, he can get up again, and return to the right path again. But once conscience dies, there is no longer any humanity.
