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Our youth are looking to us to lead from the front

Feb 18, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
It is always troubling when one reads the newspapers and hears of so many murders – friend against friend, son against father, brother against brother, spouse against spouse, and on and on it goes.
I was particularly disturbed when I read the incident of the school boy who was cruelly beaten by his schoolmates and thrown in the trench and left to drown! During my days at school, fighting was not an uncommon thing (though I myself was never a fighter). Friday afternoon was “fighting day” and scores were settled after school in fistic encounters! The fight ended when the first person said “surrender” At worst, the hapless loser would perhaps receive a “bungee” (bump on the forehead), or face the embarrassment of having to trudge home in a torn shirt or uniform, but the use of  weapons was unheard of! I am not promoting a return of the good ol’ “fighting days”, but this is rather a call to return to being our brother’s keeper, and cultivating the fear of God!
This generation seems to have lost both the fear of God and a sense of neighbourliness, and we adults must take our share of the blame. Imagine adults standing idly by and taking a hands-off stand as a child is battered by his peers! How have we become so heartless?
Perhaps we need to re-think our school’s curriculum and have the Scriptures taught in school again! I was afforded that privilege and I must say it stood me in good stead.
I learnt both at home and at school respect for others and the value of life; I learnt that judgment and justice do not begin and end in our courts, and that we must live knowing that at the end of the day we have to give account of our deeds!
Let us do our best to instill in our youths values that would bear good fruit both in time and in eternity; values that would cause our youths to have self-respect and consequently respect for others.
And in closing, may I urge us all as we prepare for our annual Mashramani celebrations,  to remember that our youths are looking  to us to lead from the front. Let us not copy/import or invent vulgar styles of jollification. Let us showcase culture and creativity without perverse and provocative sexual displays. It is ok to celebrate, but let us Mash with pride and dignity!
Claudia Heywood

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