Madam, - Fintan O'Toole's comprehensive summary of life in Ireland today (September 25th and 27th), with all the malaises resulting from living as if there were no tomorrow, was thought-provoking in the extreme.
Put in a nutshell: the Irish people never had it so good, and on the other hand never so bad. But one need not wonder why things have changed so drastically from "the bad old days" that to so many older people, this scribe included, now seem more and more like "the good old days" when you never needed to lock your front door, or be afraid of being mugged or assaulted in the street.
What has happened is that with increased affluence, people have put Mammon before God, and a new paganism reigns supreme, with society now reaping the whirlwind in alcohol abuse, with its attendant carnage on the roads, in mindless thuggery, casual violence, casual sex, greed, vulgarity, rampant materialism and general lack of respect for authority.
Whom or what to blame? The media in particular, who are so powerful in shaping attitudes and mores, with their emphasis on sex - the mantra being, even in our own home-produced TV soap, "Your place or mine?" - their relentless advertising of luxury goods, and their setting up as icons the "stars" of screen and TV with their endless couplings and hedonistic lifestyles.
The family, the solid rock and foundation of a healthy society is constantly mocked, and derided and marriage, being no longer fashionable, is replaced with a "partner" arrangement. What, then, is one to expect of the children of such casual partnerships but a breakdown in discipline and parental authority, and the lauding of individualism and doing as one likes, whatever the consequences?
Unfortunately, child-abuse and sex scandals among the clergy have been responsible for a falling-off in church attendance and the hornets' nests of tax-evasion and money-laundering uncovered by the different tribunals among members of government shows a lack of respect for authority.
Yet, for all the venality of both Church and State, in order for a sick society to become whole again, there must be a return to law and order in both the spiritual and temporal spheres of life. And the place to begin this wholeness is in the home. - Yours, etc.,
VERA HUGHES, Moate, Co Westmeath.