“The value of life is not in its duration, but in its donation. You are not important because of how long you live, you are important because of how effective you live” – Myles Munroe. A quote which always reminds us that we are defined by our actions and what we do rather than what we preach.
In today’s industrialised world, the value system has degraded to such an extent, especially in India, that it is painful to admit that our values are almost dead. Value, the term, may be defined as ethical or philosophical good which reflects a person’s sense of right and wrong and what ought to be.
Whether it is disregard for elders or the fact that people have lost their conscience; the value system is being continuously challenged in every aspect.
The society in which we live, have certain social institutions such as family, marriage and these social institutions help us to maintain the social structure and background. These social institutions are being challenged by live-in relationships, divorces and break-ups.
These are becoming day to day trends which we follow but what we forget is that it is very easy to destroy something but it is very difficult to build and nurture something and this is where values become prominent. In schools we are always taught value education and moral education but they say charity begins at home.
A kid whose brain is still acquiring the ways of life, when sees the bonding, the kinship, the happy and satisfying environment in the family, among the members, it will help the child to automatically inculcate the value system more deeply. Thus, it is imperative on the part of the family to act in a way that would help a child to be a good human being. Those who degrade this system are not only harming others but also demeaning themselves as they are psychologically aware of their misdeeds and disturbing decisions.
Such people are constantly suffering within themselves as the guilt of their deeds begins to set in. Thus they start committing suicides and become the social outcasts.
Questions that bug all of us are what examples are we setting for the future of our nation? Is this the future of a nation whose origin dates back to time immemorial?
Has our conscience died that we are failing to keep our own conduct and our actions under our control?
Losing control and our value system may not bother us now but its long lasting effects are going to haunt not only us, but our successors.
(Coordinator, Class XII, St Joseph and Mary's School)