By Jerry Roker for Bahamas Press
The first part of solving any problem, is recognizing we have one.
This is an age where you’re ridiculed for being a virgin, laughed at for having morals, called nerds as if intelligence is disgusting, called freaks for being different, called weird for loving to read and not watching television.
It’s a generation where speaking properly is snobbish, where girls feel the need to dress provocatively to get a male’s attention, where guys disrespect women as a form of affection, an age where the old are out living the future generations.
A time where it’s easier to rob than get a job, where dropping out of school is cheaper than getting an education. A time where ethnicity is more important than friendship and political ties are more important than family. A time where one person’s disgrace makes it ok to shun an entire religion.
There was a time when helping the poor meant something more than publicity and doing a good deed didn’t mean getting something in return. A time where children respected their elders and the elders set a good example. A time where a community could be just that, a community.
Now it’s a war zone, divided through politics. A time when freedom meant something. Now we’re all slaves to our own making.
A time where we encouraged children to strive for greatness, like Mandela, Martin Luther King, Sir Lynden. Sir Milo Butler, Buddy Hield, Ronnie Butler, et al; but now they strive to be like Kanye, Kim K., Kodak, Drake, Buju. What has this earth come to when having a boyfriend defines your worth, and how many girls you’ve slept with makes you even more popular?
This is the age where a girl is considered a dyke if she’s a little boyish, where apparently guys aren’t allowed to do anything girlish (not even play with their sisters) because it’s considered “gay”. A time where we discriminate against someone’s sexual orientation, where you not only discriminate but harass and emotionally abuse them.
Yes, I know most of these things have been around a very long time, but it’s more prevalent now. We say we’re advancing towards the future. But at what cost? It’s like the more we develop the less humane we get.
You cling to your religion, brandishing it as a weapon to hurt others, but yet preach about not doing harm to another? That is pure hypocrisy.
I’m not saying the world is lost, because there are many people who still value morals and family and being a good human. But what I am saying is that if people do not open their eyes and see what they’re doing to the world, then we will have a future of chaos and distrust.
And if you’re going to take offense to this message or misinterpret what I am saying, then go ahead and be ignorant and then take a second to look at yourself and ask yourself why did you get angry? Was what I said not true?
One pebble at a time can cause a ripple that some day will become a wave, so take a stand and try to make this world better, if not for anyone, but do it for yourself and your future generations.
