What makes a great man is his reputation, which means he has successfully proven to be trustworthy. One does not become a great man overnight; a man’s reputation is his honor. It is however saddening that this is not being regarded in the world of today. The proverb “a good name is better than many riches has lost its meaning, we now live in a world whereby a man who has morals is regarded as not being ‘’smart’’.
In essence, ethics as a moral principle helps govern a person’s behavior while etiquette entails behaving in a socially acceptable manner. Today, not every one cares about ethics or morals, parents see no reason to imbibe ethical values in their offspring. These offspring have no knowledge of the benefits of being ethical or acting in a socially acceptable way, everyone wants to have what they want without regard for how it is gotten.
Most youths of nowadays simply do not have simple etiquettes; their behavior is influenced by the social media or friends. Simple social conduct has not been imbibed in them and they simply do what they deem to be right.
Hence, the world has become a world with no moral consciousness, a world whereby everyone feels they have the right to do as they wish with no care of the consequence. In a nutshell, it has become a world of moral decadence. The world is vastly changing to a world where the question “what is ethics, moral and etiquettes” would be strange to men.
The remedy is to resuscitate the decaying standards and this can only be done individually as every individual should consider moral conduct in all aspect of life. As a serving corp member, I have been privileged to study youths, hence, I came to a saddening conclusion that most youths lack basic morals and etiquettes such as greeting and being respectful etc. These are the leaders of tomorrow, fathers and mothers of tomorrow. It is generally believe that one cannot pour out from an empty vessel or gives what one doesn’t have, so how then can this set of people train their children about ethics and morals? They can’t also be faulted totally because most of them weren’t taught too, the little knowledge they have is learnt from the television or the social media is there guide.
In lieu of this, every youth serving, working or schooling should exhibit ethical values and standards in whatever they do and wherever they find themselves. A little display of etiquettes might go a long way in favoring them; someone might just help them because they exhibit morals and ethics like being respectful and trustworthy.
Oyefeso Beauty Priscilla,
Ibadan
