Why are we behaving like headhunters?

TODAY we witness more brutality in public, including those meted out by the very people who should be enforcing the law.
We seem to have regressed in our social development, returning to the primitive behaviour of being headhunters, women-stealers, executioners of sorcery agents and fighting over land.
Previously, public nuisances such as making loud noises after 10pm in a neighbourhood, drinking alcohol, drunken behaviour, and urinating and carrying weapons in public were a no-no.
Our fathers of the 1960s, 1970s and ’80s were brought up and taught by the colonial administrators on how to behave, dress and conduct themselves in public.
We ask ourselves why that change has not been continued, strengthened and extended to reach everyone, especially those who have not experienced it.
Did we push the bulk of our men and women out of their old ways of doing things to the modern system too quickly?
Christianity was the agent of change that was pushed through by the mainstream churches – the Catholic, Anglican, Seventh-day Adventist, United and Lutheran churches.
They taught and stressed the morals of good behaviour through Christian teachings. They emphasised the virtues of good social behaviour.
Look back at the photos of those years and you will see those respectable men and women who grew up under the wings of the founding leaders, and learned a from them.
The country needs to seriously look at restoring the teaching of good moral conduct into the education system – from primary school to secondary school.
The best way to make this a reality is to give that responsibility back to the churches. They know best how to go about it as they had done to the first crop of national leaders who had brought us to where we are today.
The churches must be allowed to again become the main drivers of social changes for our current generation of citizens.
Let the churches teach our children the right way to behave, dress and how to respect others. Unless those values are instilled in children, little progress will be made in our development as a nation.
Today, many people leave their homes and villages and go straight to school. They do not go through the same process of upbringing and the instilling of good values those past leaders experienced.
The Government is putting up more government schools while the church-run schools are getting fewer and those in existence are under-capitalised.
They are thus unable to teach the new generation of Papua New Guineans the lessons they taught in the ’70s and ’80s.
It seems as though we have forgotten about quality education and are putting more focus on quantity in an attempt to get as many people as possible to know how to read and write, even at the expense of instilling good and responsible behaviour.
People everywhere are now acknowledging God and his teachings – of love thy neighbour as you love yourself and to serve with love.
The Government is already on the right path with the introduction of Christian education included in the national education system.
The challenge now is to ensure it is fully implemented so it that it translates into reality.
It will not happen overnight, but with God as the driving force, changes will happen.
They say patience is a virtue.