Who is to blame?
“They are not mine.” Deny, deny, deny… has become an adage when one is busted with something. About a month ago, a picture circulated on social media of a school girl caught with bhangi in her undergarments. She denied that it belonged to her. A picture was taken and well… it was wrong for the police officer to do so but I think we needed a wake-up call. It was embarrassing for the girl and a disgrace to her parents. But who is to blame? Is it society, the girl, or the parents?
It takes a village to raise a child. As much as those words are true, it is regrettably not the case. Our society has become too individualistic. All the children caught come from different backgrounds with different parenting styles. There has to be a reason why the girl and the rest that were caught, would engage in uncouth activities. Might be something they are missing from home, love, care and support from the parents. It might be out of peer pressure and curiosity or negligence by the school, we don’t know.
However, there needs to be structure. Let’s tell these young ones what to do instead of what not to do. The guidelines put in place by the schools are not enough. It starts from home, having proper role models, engaging them in healthy activities that keep their minds occupied.
Back to the picture, as disturbing as it was, it should serve as a lesson. It was a way of intensifying the drug issue that we have in our country. This means making a hidden conflict more open for purposeful interventions. We must admit that it is a conflict that we are dealing with. Substance abuse is a matter that has the concerned parties up in arms. Anyone can be affected.
Years back, if such a scenario happened, those children would have gotten a thorough beating! Yes, they are still minors, a beating from their parents would have been proper. But times have changed. Parents need to find ways of dealing with errant children. I appreciate that the government is trying to play its role in curbing this issue but they need to do more and be more professional. Nevertheless, I believe it starts with me and you. What are we doing to protect ourselves and the up-coming generations? It is a continuous battle, it should not stop. As dynamic as time is, we should always speak up and find new ways of dealing with such issues.
