“Man’s characteristic privilege is that the bond he accepts is not physical but moral; that is, social. He is governed not by a material environment brutally imposed on him, but by a conscience superior to his own, the superiority of which he feels. Because the greater, better part of his existence transcends the body, he escapes the body’s yoke, but is subject to that of society.” Emile Durkheim.
She was about 65 years old talking with a burst of emotion in a street of Kabul City. A strong feeling was easily noticeable in her tone of voice. Five passersby gathered her listening. She said with painful heart that a man took her money to bring her a tin of oil and disappeared. “It is about two hours that I have been waiting for him, but he is not back yet. I was given the money by my stepson. If I return home with empty hand, he will kick me out of home.” She said to the passersby. “He has swindled you.” Said one of the onlookers and they all left her alone.
The drops of tear sparkled in her eyes and she was standing with despondency and chagrin. Although, she was smoldering with pain, no one felt the flames of her burning emotions. Her face was reflecting her great worry and disappointment. But was it people’s business?
This story demonstrated three major problems which are rife in our society. First, cruelty and violence against women was easily noticeable in her words. She was greatly worried about being treated harshly or even being kicked by her stepson. Moreover, bigamy is a usual tradition in our society which mostly leads to domestic violence. In other words, a bigamist man frequently treats his old wife unfairly. Therefore, the Afghan women suffer mentally and physically from this issue.
Nelson Mandela says very beautifully, “For every woman and girl violently attacked, we reduce our humanity. For every woman forced into unprotected sex because men demand this, we destroy dignity and pride. Every woman who has to sell her life for sex, we condemn to a lifetime in prison. For every moment we remain silent, we conspire against our women. For every woman infected by HIV, we destroy a generation.”
Secondly, poverty is one of the major problems being suffered by Afghan people and paving the way for crime and corruption. For instance, administrative corruption, robberies and theft and cultivating narcotic drugs are highly prominent in our society which originates from poverty. This chronic problem has challenged the lives of thousands of Afghan people.
In addition, moral codes and religious laws are eroding. Religious values are deeply marginalized in our individual and collective life. People are involved in criminal activities such as robbery, theft, swindling, deceiving, hypocrisy, etc. Humanity is threatened to death by human beings.
Our feet are tightly chained by our worldly desires. We trample upon the rights of our own fellow without feeling a tinge of guilt. The people’s main claim to fame is to gain self-interests at the cost of their moral codes and religious beliefs. Our bodies may be free, but our souls are the real prisoners of our whims and lusts. Hence, human empty of humanity is the disease of our society and century.
Albert Einstein says very aptly, “A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measures and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.”
Unfortunately, nowadays nobody feels a sense of devotion and co-operation. If a neighbor or a member of the same society is knee-deep in a difficulty, the other members just ignore inhumanly. Dedication is construed as idiocy and the more dishonest one is the more clever s/he is called. In short, moral standards are metamorphosed. Therefore, this is a great tragedy. As human beings, aren’t we supposed to share our joys and pains?
Sharon Sequeira says, “If for some reasons one of us is having a genuine difficulty in accomplishing our task, it is important for the others to pitch in and help out in order that the wheels of progress are not slowed down or stopped. Just imagine for a second how an automobile cannot move if we get a flat in one of the tires even though the remaining three tires are fine.” Sharon talks about being committed in our tasks and carrying out our responsibilities in the best possible way saying, “We constantly must be aware that we should be doing our work diligently if we only for a moment think that we are doing our tasks to the best of our ability to please our God. Hence, irrespective of whether we are being observed by our peers or superiors we should be doing our best to complete our tasks to the best of our abilities.”
It is worthy of mention to say that when one lacks moral standards and religious boundaries, prevailing law will not be respected. I believe that the role of moral standards in one is the strongest factors that can stop from committing crime. However, if morality dies in the soul of a nation, then crime will rise. I conclude that trampling upon moral standards and religious instructions will lead to crime and corruption in a society.