Future imperfect
By: Syed Mustafa Ahmad
There was a time when morality was omnipresent. All were morally uplifted. The adults, as well as children, were almost found on the same footing. Whether it was home, school, religious places, etc., the environment was full of respect, honesty, sympathy, tolerance, love, joy, etc. all were optimistic that the future would be very good, where truth and respect would reign. It lasted for quite a long time.
However, these qualities became a mirage within no time. All the feats of morality were shattered on the floor. Today, we are going through a time when every kind of virtue has taken a back seat.
All around are disobedient children. They consciously or unconsciously have forgotten morality. They wander here and there aimlessly. They have no self respect. When it is the situation, one can easily understand that they are not going to respect anyone. Instead of becoming a source of ease, they have become a burden on society. I have listened to some parents saying that they want their children dead. They are fed up with the continuous humiliation brought by their children. But how have we reached here. There must be some causes behind immorality. Now, we will try to understand some causes of our moral degradation.
First is the irresponsible behavior of parents. They never keep a watchful eye over their wards. The parents are lost in materialism. Their only concern is to earn and spend money. Other things matter very less in their lives.
It is a well-known fact children follow their parents. When parents themselves are in the mad race of materialism, what advice they are going to impart to their children. The result is that the children become the money earning and spending machines, without concern for themselves in particular and for the society in general.
In this process, all the principles of morality are lost in thin air when parents don’t have time for their children. Children follow their own whims and become the soft target of miscreants. It becomes a long chain of indecency, where everyday a new child is added and the chain goes on and on without any end.
Second is our educational system. It only produces learned people. Firstly, our educational system is incompatible with the society. Whatever is taught in educational institutions is never present on the ground level. There is a wide chasm between the theory and the practical.
In this situation, a child feels that it is better to enjoy his or her life, without wasting his or her marvelous brain in the futile pursuit. Moreover, our education system is without morality. If a child is taught that a human being is the progeny of monkeys, the child will behave like an animal. He or she will treat others as animals. When a child is taught that there is no bar on illegal sexual intercourses one can easily deduce this result that the society has embarked on the wrong path.
Apart from this, we are reminded of Mahatma Gandhi here. Gandhi says teacher means that a teacher should be morally uplifted. He or she should be an epitome of humanity. But the damage is done when a teacher acts in such a way that makes the morality to strike its head against the wall.
Third is that the environment is fertile for every kind of evil. When a child leaves his or her home, all the evils of the society welcome him or her and embrace him or her under the so-called comfort.
This reason is the biggest cause of the moral degradation. A child has to live in a society, where there is no escape but to tolerate and walk along the circumstances. In this way, a child has to wear the different gowns of society and helplessly walk on the path of destruction. So, the environment being the creator of a child doesn’t loosen its strong grip on the child. And at the end of the day, slowly and steadily, the society falls into the deep pit of sins, where from there is no coming back.
These are some causes that I have discussed here. It is disheartening to see our children are wasting their time in the anti-social things. They have lost the touch with the realities of life. They live virtual lives. They have no concern about their future. They want to enjoy every moment in the ways they like.
A lot of damage has been done. We cannot be so complacent in this regard. We cannot let our younger generation get wasted in this fashion. All the brilliant heads have to come forward and save our new generation from the menace of evils. So, in order to escape from further shame, let us settle our houses.
(The author is an educationist and hails from HMT Srinagar)
