One important aspect of being civilized and being regarded as part of civilization is having a moral value. Without a moral value, it is as if we have returned to the era of ancient life. It is also the basic principle of everyone's life.
A moral value is considered the main part of education. It can be learned from the family, the smallest unit of education, and from formal education such as school. Having a moral value is believed to make this country better. Parents and teachers work together in teaching the children how to act in society based on a society's moral value.
From a young age in the family to the highest level of education, we learn what is good and what is bad, what is accepted and what is not accepted by the society. This country and the people, including the government, are so proud of the moral value we have.
The moral value our country is said to have is the combination of eastern culture and the traditional culture of our ancestors. It is said our moral value is to respect others and to have a great tolerance toward others. This is what we were taught in the family and at school.
In the past, many students liked to fight each other. It was very common to hear students from one school fight with students from another school. No single day went by without hearing of and watching this kind of news.
Hearing the news, everyone was so angry. Common people, such as parents, to people at the highest level commented on it. We thought that the school as an institution was the main problem. Teachers were said to be failing in teaching students the right way. All of the blame was put on the school, including the teachers and the lessons because they were not teaching the next generation our moral value.
However, this time, the real problem in our moral value education which we were so proud of and afraid of at different times has been disclosed. This is a fact that nobody can deny.
We teach our next generation to respect each other, but they see how adults attack other adults. This country is full of fighting and quarreling among different societies for many reasons. We tell our children to tolerate each other's differences, but they listen to how disrespectful adults speak of others. With many accusations, we blame and accuse others for what we think is untrue just because they have different beliefs or perceptions.
For example, we tell our children -- in this holy month for our Muslim friends -- that fasting for them is a test of their patience. They should be patient when facing any circumstance. However, they see from television how members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) -- who are adults -- are the other way. Those FPI members forbade food vendors from selling and destroyed their property in Tasikmalaya, West Java. They also attacked people inside and in front of the Central Jakarta Court during Ramadan.
This example clearly shows the contrast between what we teach our children about the moral value of this country and how people act in their lives. This is the real threat for our next generation. If this threat is not stopped, we should not be surprised if one day our children at school also fight with other students from other schools.
We have to be honest in saying that the main destroyer of the moral value of this country is us. We cannot be hypocrites anymore in front of our children. We have to start realizing our own mistakes. What we call a moral value now will just be a big lie if we do not change the way we live. We have to show our children the kind of life which is consistent with and not hypocritical to our lessons about our moral value. Then our country can continue being a civilized country.
The writer is a teacher. He can be reached at michaelsetiawan@hotmail.com
