Dead babies – questionable human values

1:11 AM MAKIKO VOICE, THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS 3 Comments

It is rather sad to see and read about abandoned babies (a few, to-death) of late. Going through the news and blogs many have expressed anger, disappointment, disbelief and sympathy towards the alarming issue.

While the majority seems to be ‘cursing’ the action of the irresponsible individuals, this is not a new issue. I remember about less than a decade ago, there was a similar hype of media coverage of the phenomenon.

This kind of issue is a plague, not only to Malaysia, but also many other developing and developed countries. Somehow, it is the price we need to pay for the sake of development. It is a fallacy that for societies that are synonym to strong collectivism and rather conventional belief culture, this kind of social nightmare should have not become an issue.

It is due for change, no matter how hard we try – the set of values we, as human, as a participant in a society and as an individual, live with. These set of values are very much culture oriented and easily influenced by external factors. Many of the factors are within our control; however there are still a few those are not.

We are very much aware of the social attributes and features that are no longer governed or influenced by the same set of values, compared to 20 years ago. Whether it is good or bad, as a whole, everyone must be able to contribute/participate at giving support to ensure that the outcome of this change is manageable.

Here is the deal:-

The majority agrees that interactions between genders have better freedom;

The majority accepts individual rights are better exercised;

The majority understands that the dynamics of social development has rapidly changed over the past couple of decades;

The majority is aware about the lack of control and resources to race against the rapid social development;

The majority is still strongly believed that the authority of providing control and governance over the management of social development is the responsibility of those who are given power;

From a narrow point of view, there are many of us who share concerns but somehow the approach of managing this issue is not effective enough. We still do what our ancestors do the best – punishment for those who does ‘wrong’ thing; by reacting negatively towards the issue or worse out-casting the so-called wrong-doers from the majority.

I wish to ask all fellow readers to pause for a while and think about the options of the unfortunate girls/young ladies have when they found out that they have make wrong while being in our social circle.

Pre-emptive measures (e.g. education, enforcement, etc.) should always be the best control mechanism; however if these measures were to fail, we should be able to come up with alternative approach or treatment. At this point, blaming the ‘victims’ or pointing fingers to those who are ‘seen to be criminals’ is not the option we have.

Osum.Sun.Com

Note: I remember watching from NatGeo about animals eating their newborn, desperately because the mother know that the offspring will not be able to survive to the predators waiting outside the dent. There was NO OTHER CHOICE.