Sunday, February 03, 2008

What has gone wrong?


The last weekend of January was not so peaceful in Auckland. Two lives were killed. One young man was stabbed to death by a robber when he was working in his father’s dairy shop. Another young man was caught tagging on the fence by the property’s owner. The owner chased the young man with a knife and killed him.


This two homicide cases shocked the nation. Although statistics indicates January is usually the peak of homicide crime because of the scorching heat and the bills to be paid after the Christmas holiday, both are factors trigging the anger, but two lives killed in one day in the same district of the city is something shocking the society. What has gone wrong?


In the following couple of days, topics about this two cases were hot in the talk-back radio shows. All sorts of ideas were raised up by the audiences calling in. Politicians gave opinions and preventative remedies. Ideas such as keeping students at school until 18 of age; provision of skill training or apprenticeship and so on were heard here and there. The ideas discussed were like trying to revive a dying tree by working on its branches and leaves while the real problem in its root was totally overlooked. Instant cure of a problem seems to be a most welcomed approach.


However, the problem will be just getting worse if its root, the lack of moral education, is not taken care of. Without moral education, the value of matters will be confused, and people feel it is ok to do whatever they like. The moral education taught by sages in olden days has been discontinued since long time ago. Nowadays, moral education is rarely seen. What is everywhere on TV and all kinds of media are topics relating to craving, hatred,violence, sexual stimulus. How can a safe society be maintained if there are so many negative things around.


It is said that in order to prove that people can be taught with good values, Master Chin Kung, has started his experiment on transforming a small town in China, called Tangchi, into a model town by delivering the teachings of ancient sages. The outcome of this experiment is profound. The following web page has detailed report on this educational project. http://www.radio86.co.uk/china-insight/from-chinese-media/5030/peace-at-home-peace-in-the-world

Amitofo