Morals and good manners are never negotiable

On Tuesday, we learned of the death of Zoleka Mandela. She had fought courageously against cancer and beat it twice – but not the third time round…

She may have lost that battle, but it is her courage while fighting it that we remember her as the victor. And it is that fighting spirit that we should remember her by – not the fame her Mandela surname brought.

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Social media celebrated this woman of strength with many mothers mourning in light of the children that she leaves behind. But, in some quarters, there were some who cheered her death.

“Good riddance,” was said by one… When did we become a society that cannot respect the dead? What type of homes do we come from that cannot regulate our behaviours, even on online platforms?

I remember a time when morals were set, not social expectations … living morals. But fast-forward to the here and now and values and morals are now an issue that can be debated. Values are now flexible and something that can be negotiated.

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Why is there now a sudden relaxation of common decency? Why can’t we treat others as we want to be treated, with honesty and all other good morals?

The society we knew – genuinely sound human beings with uncompromising principals – is a dying breed.

One simply has to look to our political leadership. Gone are the struggle heroes of yesteryear. Whoever is left at the table of leadership, are they politically and morally sound to lead?

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The truth is we have eroded our own morality and think that it is acceptable because the person next door is doing it. Meanwhile, the person next door is not carrying the same burdens we carry, or sporting the same battle scars as the ones we have.

We need to stop negotiating about good morals just because the fool next door is doing it. That is not how life is lived. That is not how you succeed in life. Morals and good manners are never negotiable.

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We simply need to go back to basics because what we are and have become is in no way acceptable.