The Editor, Sir:

Our Jamaican society seems to be losing its moral high ground by replacing morals with ignorance and replacing beliefs with unawareness. It's really sad the direction this country is literally heading where morals and values are concerned. Morality should express the ethics that manage our behaviour. Without these ethics in place, humanity cannot survive for much longer. We have lost track of our right to sexual privacy and seem to be losing our moral obligations to our country. There can be no intelligence, whether non-natural or natural, that can exist without a set of standards.

Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, and one needs to remember morality is the pilot of realism. Morals seek to establish what is true in our society and despite the reward and pleasure that we gained by the reality of having sex, whether with or without condoms, it is necessary for the society to obey the laws of the land and in doing so, maintain our moral high ground. If we ignore these limits and ponder to our desires, while the individual enjoys the barrage of instantaneous immoral releases, the society will perish, and unavoidably, the individual suffers.

Morality should impact our everyday decisions, and yes, the morals of a society changes, but that doesn't mean morality in itself changes. If a society upholds abortion, that doesn't make abortion right; morality goes beyond cultures and individuals. Not because an individual is acting like an adult, the reality of his/her actions does not make him/her an adult. The future is rushing up to meet us and the children of current cultures are growing up understanding life in a whole new way, mainly due to technology, and if we sacrifice our morals, our children will be useless citizens.

I am, etc.,

LERON MATTISON

leronmattison@yahoo.com