Children are our future, let’s teach them what is right!

I love Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” – parts of its lyrics admonishes us to teach our children well and let them lead the way: and that we should give them a sense of pride because they are our future.

Against this background, I feel bilious about what we are teaching our children in the name of politics in this country. It is now common for people to insult and grossly disrespect our president without any sense of shame or remorse, all because power must be obtained at all costs! What legacy are we leaving behind? I fear of a declension of our future generation, and I’m deadly serious about this. And this must be the concern of all too!

Perhaps, out of innocent curiosity I want to know why religious leaders, leaders of evil – oops, sorry: civil society groups, celebrities, etc, have not come out to condemn this most execrable trend? Not too long ago the Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement on the negative impact of dumsor and the challenges the NHIS is going through, and I think it is not a bad thing to draw government’s attention to such issues.

There has also been much talk of late with regard to some celebrities who are not happy with the current energy crisis our country is experiencing and intend to have a vigil to register their displeasure about the issue. I don’t have a problem at all with that too because it is their constitutional right.

The problem I have and what I’m worried about is that the Catholic Bishops, the Celebrities and others have not shown concern about this shameful trend of disrespect for our presidency which is a threat to the moral fabric of our society, with the same alacrity they are showing for dumsor! And I view this with extreme detestation and disgust!

It is not about President John Dramani Mahama because he can’t be president forever; by 2021 he would be out. So, it is him today, it could be somebody else tomorrow. And let’s not forget that Ghana is all that we have. Disrespect for our presidency means disrespect for our dear nation. I want to believe that it is an oversight on the part of these opinion leaders not to have taken notice and condemned this unfortunate act; in which case I think some people are committing a serious sin of omission which carries a grave burden of consequences; and must bow their heads in penitence and grief now that I’m drawing their attention to it.

Kikikikiki, in the meantime, enjoy Houston’s “Greatest love of All”

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be

Everybody’s searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone who fulfilled my needs
A lonely place to be
And so I learned to depend on me.

[Chorus] I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone’s shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I’ll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can’t take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all inside of me
The greatest love of all is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

That notwithstanding, my advice to my president, big brother and dear friend is that stay focused; no matter what they take from you, they can never take away your destiny because that is in the hands of God, and that the greatest love of all is inside of you. What God has written about you can never be erased with insults. Keep smiling, keep shining! Posterity will surely be the judge someday!