Reimaya Muinao
Asst. Prof. St. Joseph’s college Jakhama
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And then man was created in his imageand given power to everything on earth. And with that power bestowed upon him, man polluted his home upto the extent that god had to cleanse it with flood. This is the account given in the book of genesis.
Reflecting on the beginning of the creation of the story from where we are now, it is disheartening to acknowledge the fact that man, “different from animals who acts on instincts,” who is rational and programmed with conscience have achieved so little when it comes to morality, principles and discipline.The conscience, the greatest basic power given to an individual, free from eternal aggressions and pressures, programmed from within by default, no longer lives amidst us. Society has tuned and manipulated our consciences so bad in today’s world that it says mute most of the time. Someone who is brave enough to question the wrongs of the society is targeted and made the scapegoat in almost all scenarios today. That rich ungodly man is so much more feared and respected in our society than that poor pious man. And for what? Because we can and might get a little something in return for selling off our consciences by keeping quiet in desperate times. This is the world we live in today and it’s not surprising seeing the changing patterns of a family home. Home is where everything starts. A child’s empty ground waiting for the elders to construct the right pattern for the future. Today it’s rampant, youngsters getting abusive both verbally and physically to elders, students’ indifferent attitude with no respects towards their teachers. And of course, all these started from home. That young angry delinquent juveniles fault lies with the fact that his guardians failed to either discipline him/her or have had an abusive past.
When I was younger, a teenage, I ignored the warning signs to the cigarette cover that read, “smoking is injurious to health” and casually lighted up a cig and smoked. The thrill that came along it was as scary as it should. All my life, we were told, smoking is bad and here I am testing how bad it could be! The voice that we were taught we have inside our brain to tell us when something is wrong was booming loud shrieking, “smoking is bad and I should stop right there.” The next time it was less loud and gradually it stopped. My conscience on smoking was muted. By myself. From ignoring it to the fullest. Unfortunately or fortunately for me, I was caught one day by my elderly neighbour and not only did he rebuked me, he pulled me by my ear and took me straight home not letting go of my ear all the way home, I, on the other hand, felt, what the neighbour did was justifiable and did not retaliate and submitted to his tugging. My folks were more happy to discipline me in front of that elder and all the others that had gathered there by now. Such was our society back then. Everyone was responsible for everyone and hardly anyone held grudges for such incidents. How many of us can say this things still happen in our society today? I believe our parents’ conscience were mighty times better than ours today and that was the reason why they did not hesitate to discipline other’s kids as well. The need for the hour is the awakening of the conscience once again. Remembering the sharing, “charity starts at home” and as such, revival is a steady process and it will have to start by home.
Of course, my personal illustration on smoking experience is but just a little connection to what the power of our conscience really ought to be. I believe it is the most powerful weapon against the destruction of our society today if harnessed in the right way. Most importantly, I believe it is now the time to revive it up once again right at this very juncture. If all of us today can be bold enough to take weightage on what our conscience has to offer, I believe it will go a long way in making things right in the many wrongs of today. And for me, in the end, all that really matters is nothing but what makes us sleep peacefully with a clean conscience. Have a good day.
