- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - Hier 09:32

In search of blueprint for peaceful living

THE EDITOR: I have witnessed with increasing alarm the spate of horrendous attacks on women caught in a web of physical, mental and emotional abuse at the hands of their supposed "loved ones;" and even more gruesome, brutal death at the evil hands of opportunist criminals. To add insult to injury is the very recent brutal attack on a helpless schoolgirl by her peers at a secondary school in Port of Spain. It is a classic demonstration of the entrenched anger, hatred and violence which have sadly characterised our current existence as a society. I dare say that these very recent incidents highlight the need for us as citizens to cultivate relationships which are based on mutual respect, empathy, self-discipline, and compassion. Of equal significance, these horrible events bring sharply into question the functionality and efficacy of our traditional primary agents of socialisation – the home, the school, the community. I grew up at a time and in an environment when children were raised by the adults in our communities, who shared a fundamental set of values which were understood by all, and therefore upheld with a great measure of consistency and certainty. Whether it was in the home, at school or in the wider community, those precepts were shared and protected, and therefore we thrived in an environment in which social order, discipline and respect for human life were pre-eminent universal values for safe, harmonious and peaceful living. It is sad to say, however, that in our natural quest for socio-economic development, in an environment of rapid globalisation, those critical core values have been severely eroded, to the extent that in many ways they appear to be irrelevant or even non-existent. If we were to take an objective view of our society, it will be very difficult to deny that we are adrift, searching for an appropriate set of values on which to moor our metaphorical ship of state. The challenge seems to be, however, that we have not yet identified and communicated, in a cohesive, consistent and elaborate way, the core tenets upon which our society should be anchored, in the context of the manifest realities of the 21st century environment. It is therefore my humble view that the first step towards our salvation is to identify and adopt a set of essential social values to which we as citizens must aspire to live by, faithfully. This task will require a comprehensive reorientation of our current value-system through a process of re-socialisation, guided by an appropriate values education curriculum. In terms of a strategy for long-term benefits, it is considered essential for the adoption of some form of compulsory "national service" that will provide appropriate mentoring to our young men and women in appreciating our society’s aspirations and the meaning, purpose and utility of the core values to which we must all subscribe. This will ensure that in at least a decade from now our country would have fully defined and effectively communicated the true basis for our citizenship, and the treasured values and precepts for living peacefully, respectfully and harmoniously in a democratic, cosmopolitan society. KEITH RENAUD Point Fortin The post In search of blueprint for peaceful living appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.