The Voice (Francistown)
22 April 2008
column
Recently, the newspapers were screaming of a new era, a new dawn as we inaugurated a new President.
But what occupied our minds was the moral decay of our society and whether there will be any change in the behaviour of the youth.
We are worried about our youth, especially their abuse of alcohol, drugs and other ills.
We were touched when a friend of our grandchildren, aged 18, perished in an automobile accident, driven by a Member of Parliament's son, who was driving the vehicle without parental consent.
It was a typical case of a simultaneous funeral and a wedding as our son attended the funeral of the young girl whom we had known since she was around 10, with his friend, the girl's 19-year-old boyfriend.
They proceeded to attend the wedding of this friend's mother who had to deal with the loss of a girlfriend, whilst he was supposed to be sharing the joy of his mother's wedding.
Still reeking in shock at this waste of life, our 14-year-old granddaughter, who aspires to be a photographer, asked me whether The Voice could publish photographs of school children doing drugs at her school at what is called 'hotspots'.
In shock, we asked what type of drugs she was talking about and got into deeper shock when she talked about cocaine and marijuana.
Of course, we dissuaded her from taking the pictures even though a small journalistic voice was urging us to let her take the photos.
Our ethics do not allow us to publish photographs of the under-aged and the sheer image of her exposed to drugs like that.
We pray that parents start taking this issue seriously and that we all take the moral decay of our society as our business and as a challenge.
Some assume the new President Lt General Seretse Khama Ian Khama will solve these issues. How?
It is high time we the citizens of thiscountry recognize that we cannot expect a President or a government to get into our homes and solve our problems. It is our role as the citizens to take this moral decay seriously and do something about it.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Voice. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
