A young guy returned from abroad and was staying in a rural area. He came for doing development work with the poor communities. In the process of field visits, he came close to a young girl. He had a sexual relationship with this girl, and also with a few other girls in the area.

One day he confessed with me about his relationship, especially with the poor girl. He was having guiltiness, especially for having a relationship with the poor girl. He said that this girl was married and he has given some gifts during her marriage and also attended her marriage.

Now his question to me was ‘Is this Okay?’ I said the integrity of everyone is equally important. When people start doing bigger and greater things in life, scrutiny is inevitable. Whatever good work a person is doing, one bad example will make the person fall from heights. The societies ethos and morals of the people occupying the higher places and positions are expected to be of high standards.

A person’s bad character and history are like the skeletons in a cupboard, someday a part or everything will be exposed. Otherwise, also, the person lives in fear all the time of being exposed or caught. The guiltiness will remain with the person for the rest of life. The life of a fugitive is never peaceful.

Over years he became one of the most influential persons globally, but he could not stand at the peak for many reasons, including some of his earlier bad deeds which were exposed. His name and fame degraded over the years and no one wants to associate much with the person now.