On Saturday while riding on a bus I had an experience that made me start reflecting on the ethics and the value systems. I was in a bus and next to me on the opposite side was a young girl sited next to her mother. Entered an elderly lady probably in her mid 60s.Since it was a long bus she didn’t have the energy to go all the way to the back and so she retreated to the front so as to alight. Seeing this the conductor requested the young girl to sit at the back and give up her seat to the granny. What followed is what shocked me. The young girl completely refused and her moms pleas fell on deaf ears. I just stood up and sat at the back and the elderly lady said thank you as she took my seat.
For the rest of the journey I was just pondering on that incident? What happened to values, ethics and common sense? When we were growing up, you could not jostle for space with elders in mutates. If an elderly person got in a bus you automatically stood whether you had paid for transport or not.sitted there, looking at that young girl protest and her mom seemed helpless my heart went out for all the future generations in this country. Everything people do nowadays is based on self-interest.
Flower Companies empty toxic materials in lake Naivasha without a care on the livelihood supported by the lake, and if the community protest, few shillings change hands and nothing is done.
Young people hijack matatus, rob off people and even kill. They do not care since it’s none of their family members. They only seem to care when they get arrested.
2month old babies, 86yr old grannies are being raped by their sons, fathers and close family members! This was unheard off in the previous 2 decades.
Families are killing each other. When growing up, a family was a source of security where everyone had a sense of belonging. In he recent times media is awash with stories of people killing their wives, husbands and even children. Where did we do wrong?
It was unheard of for young people to answer rudely to an elder person. Every child was society’s responsibility. You could be punished by a neighbor for doing wrong. Nowdays, if you dare touch someone’s kid you could get sued like yesterday. What changed?
The society as a whole has changed. An example is when you are waiting for a lift. People will stand at the door with their noses high not thinking that there are people who could get out. And when it opens, you see people jostling for space without letting others get out first. Common courtesy is a vocabulary to many.
On our roads it’s even worse. People don’t give way anymore. Most of the traffic snarl ups that we experience are caused by rude drivers who pass even when the lights are red, who don’t give way and who insist on using the wrong lanes and woe unto you if you hot at them. They get annoyed to the point of showing you the middle finger.
Our government is a breeding ground for impunity. As long as you are rich people will vote you in. It doesn’t matter whether you have ideas or not. And the more you loot the national coffers the more famous you become.
So we observe that self-centeredness is manifesting itself across the spectrums of our society and appears to be at the root of many of our problems. But from where does this attitude come? Do our attitudes shape our values? Is it the other way around? Or is there another source entirely?
