Moral degeneration literally means the total breakdown of the values and norms in our society- posing an impending disappearance of our age-old cultural identifications and reservations. The society today is pressed between a rock and a hard place. While on one hand we are bound by the forces of modernity, industrialization and civilization, on the other hand we are risking cultural erosion, reckless living and moving by the moving wind of the so called modernity and civilization. Most of our fellow youth are captives of alcoholism, drug abuse, premarital sex; disrespecting the elders at home, at school and in the general community. The present moral decadence in our society is caused by inter-twined factors ranging from lack of parental guidance either because some of the youth did not have the chance to grow up with their parents or even because the parents themselves are: “birds of the same feathers”. The emergence of modernization, with its attendant evils like erotic literature and the exodus of communities into other communities is creating an intermingling of cultures and cultural erosion. Viewing this from a distance, one would see that the major causes of moral decadence fall into two significant extremes from the two distinct ends of our society. From one end, excessive self confidence- “better call it false confidence” among the youth from well-to-do families has led to this problem. These brothers and sisters have a pre-conceived idea that everything is possible as long as there is money, that a posh car, a state-of- the- art swimming pool at home and the best living is enough. They drink, feast and celebrate 7 days a week and end up associating with wrong characters. These sisters and brothers should instead utilize their available resources to shape their future positively, for money is like a visitor who comes and goes at the time he pleases. On the other hand, some youth who come from impoverished families have lost their morals and traditional cultural norms because of lost hope and are living in a state of despair. You find a kid without parents, no immediate relatives and no even genuine neighbours to guide them on how to live up to the required social behaviours. Such kids are victims of drug abuse and get involved in anti-social behaviours because they have lost the meaning of life. My humble appeal to such kids is that they should know that there is hope whether or not one is an orphan, impoverished and or in any state of destitution. It’s possible that such kids mature into responsible citizens and their failure to adopt a positive mental attitude deprives our country of future marvellous leaders. What we ought to do, as responsible citizens, is to advise our youth to pick good things from the forces of modernity and drop bad things from this modernity. The Writer is an Economist with the Ministry of Finance
