THE EDITOR, Sir:
IT SEEMS that nobody is safe nowadays. Why? I believe that an awful lot of our present-day problems are due to a lack of education about the world around us. We seem to have lost the basis of comfortable family life. The fact that more people have more money and more recreational time does not seem to have reached the average man in the street. Instead of exercising his brain by reading meaningful and helpful educational materials, even such as what is found in the newspapers, it appears he is purchasing sensational and gossip-crammed tabloids and watching shallow entertainment on television.
There is of course the need to be entertained, especially after a hard day's work. In this day and age, though, it seems that intellectual standards have been lowered. There exist quantities of tertiary level and other adult co-educational courses - and they are great. Participants absorb themselves into the study of all sorts of unusual subjects and specialise.
I have learnt that in the past, there was a person who knew something about almost everything. He/she would absorb information like a blotting paper that was shared in conversations with others who continued to share ad infinitum. Almost everybody, young and old, shared in this community spirit. Everyone knew what everyone else was about. The good vibes were spread and the bad often quashed through mutual disdain.
Where have we gone wrong? Perhaps government has helped to bring these problems about in their effort to solve them. They have taken on too much of the responsibility and thereby changed the behaviour of people who once co-operated with each other. But have they done a good job of their responsibility? Have they not denied the prospective volunteer that sense of national pride that makes them undertake community activities at no cost but to themselves?
These are just some of my thoughts as a 14-year-old, as I seek to warn my readers: there are violent people out there, there are thieves who are targeting businesses and private homes, including those of the elders. Many of them are hooked on costly drugs for which they have to find 'big money', they are unscrupulous users of young people often to enhance their financial well-being. There is consolation, however, there is still a huge majority of law-abiding and environmentally concerned citizens who detest this. Yes, we do live in a dangerous environment, but we must do our utmost to ensure a change.
I am etc.,
LEETHAN GRANDISON
leethan_grandison@yahoo.com
Donnington District, St. Mary.
Pembroke Hall P.O.,
