Can a return to morals save us from societal evils

Today the world is faced with a number of challenges that are all man made, and when you look at education, technology, social structures and existing legal instruments, you conclude that they are never going to save us from the bondage of man’s evil, before our society descends into peril. The objective of this article thus, aims at sparking a discussion on whether a return to morals can save us from man’s evils. The current global warming, the 2009 credit crunch, and the social and economic evils in the world, is all evidence of a society that has been worn out of morals and slowly but steadily, we could end up creating a society where man eats man. Morals in any given society are thought to humanize man and cascades good practices in society, thus can help a great deal in trying to bring consciousness and self regulation among our leaders. A big proportion of the current global challenges social, economic and political, are as a result of man’s actions resulting from self-centric behaviors that result into fraud, corruption and unrealistic search for both social and economic gains at the expense on the general good. In the current Rwandan situation, we have had a number of recognizable members being sacked and ending behind bars for their unquenchable thirst for money leading them to embezzlement, corruption and bribes. Deterioration in levels of morals among our societies today can be reflected in the tendency for some leaders’ search for individualized benefits. An example of great moral personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Therese and Nelson Mandela, shows how devoted they were in trying to foster the interest of the society as a whole, at the expense of self, which should act as a basis of reflection by individuals to do what society expect of them. The argument that some lack capacity has been ruled out, President Paul Kagame while clarifying on the issue of sacked leaders in one of his monthly press conferences, noted that the persons in most cases involved, are not only graduates but also hold Masters degrees, again to my understanding, they earn reasonable salaries, they have been facilitated by the Government to own posh cars and held in high esteem by our society, then why? Where should we focus our efforts?, I believe not only on the legal instruments but also on morals for behavioral change among the leaders that have great influence upon the entire population before our society goes up in peril. One of the suppositions is that our education system must be checked and analyzed to determine on what course of action to employ. The core objective of any education system is to develop man in the three spheres (domains) psychologically reflected in the 3Hs (heart, hand and head); so does our education system effectively emphasize these domains? As Teddy Roosevelt once said, “To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” According to Professor C.R. Kesler, “In the quest for educational reform, we would do well to turn not only to the great books, but also the great exemplars of wisdom with which our country is blessed. To help reclaim our destiny as human beings and citizens, we need to rediscover the generation that really can claim to be the best and the brightest in American history, at least from the moral and political point of view: the founders of the American Republic.” Though he said this as an American, it is generally applicable to a great number of countries including Rwanda. The ancient Rwanda society is thought to have had a strong focus on morals and every individual action would be from a well thought out mind in regard to individual self regulation in terms of one’s impulses, behavior, and/or emotions. We should be proud that our leaders, have long thought about the issues and the current trends in resumption of the Rwandan ancient values through “Itorero” aiming at resurrecting what was traditionally referred to as “KIRAZIRA”- the forbidden and “indangagaciro” or reflective values, are all a manifestation that our government in not fighting the battle on a single front. iyamuremyej@yahoo.com