Changing attitudes

The problem with our attitude is causing outrage.
While the Government is delivering billions of kina worth of projects to transform Papua New Guinea and create an economy that is robust and fuels growth, we always end up spending more money to rehabilitate, restore, maintain and fix things that have either been damaged, hurt or broken because of our insane, inhuman or ill-mannered behaviour.
You only have to look at how vandals have painted graffiti over new buildings, walls, fences, or thrown rubbish everywhere or spit betel nut on the road, pavement, compounds to know what I mean.
We see people smoking in public places without respecting the rights of non-smokers. Security is a big issue and our girls and women are afraid to walk freely during the day and night, and people have barricaded themselves into their compounds with high fences and razor-sharp barbed wires in an attempt to keep away burglars. We see drunken people everywhere showing their non-robotic muscular ability to put fear into girls, women and children.
This country is facing so many social issues which have become a burden on the economy.
The Government has to take some blame too because it has failed to invest more on programmes that can transform and change mindsets.
The Education Department should have programmes that teach children good manners and how to behave well in society.
We may apprehend and punish a lawbreaker but then there are many more like him or her on the street doing the same thing.
To kill a tree we have to uproot it, not just cut off a branch, and dealing with law and order issues is the same; we have to start at the bottom before it grows into a big problem.
We have to nip it at the bud and we have to teach our children at school how to grow up to be law-abiding citizens.
Corruption is a normal part of our lives and it occurs because at school we were not taught responsibility, to do the right thing, to behave well and to be trustworthy and truthful.
I recommend the inspirational book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Kenny.
This book is genuinely acceptable learning material that our education officials can use to extract information and ideas that can help us in education.
To change Papua New Guinea we have to start teaching our people now how to change the way they think.

Ngayam David
Concerned citizen