Dropping of The Batton

Gone are the days when parents train their children for nation-building. It is very obvious that the current generation is not prepared to face the challenges of our society. What our predecessors achieved in their reign we are yet to come close to and due to this, the values, prestige, and legacies of our nation depreciate by the second. What is more mind-boggling is the fact that in our time, with the aid of technology and other advanced discoveries, life is easier; we have easier and quicker modes of transportation, communication, and learning. And yet, our generation is slower, less engaged on the societal level, and less educated than our predecessors.

Whenever our elders recount their past experiences, they always lament the current state of our society and reminisce what they left behind. Why is that?

I remember coming across a video where the speaker spoke about how difficult times create strong people and strong societies while easy times create weak people and weak societies. Is this the case with the failing system in our time? One might argue that in places like the UK, it is not the case.  We’ve seen many ideas, privately owned businesses, companies, and organizations grow and blossom from the foundations laid by the founders centuries ago. Companies like Twinings which dates back to 1706, started as a tearoom in London, and today, Twinings is a global favourite. So also, Mcvities which began as a small baker’s shop in 1839 in Edinburgh passed on from generation to generation to become a global household name. Why then is our case different? What is the missing link here? Why are we, the younger generation not building on the foundations of our elders? Why is this traditional chain of transmission not functional anymore?