Let’s not expose our children to the use of swear words

Shame on those Sydney protesters on Saturday who uttered swear words in the presence of children.

The protest by this small group of Fijians during Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s visit to Australia clearly shows an un-Fijian-like attitude and total disregard to values.

The sad thing about the protest was that the loud swearing in the iTaukei language was uttered by protesters with children in attendance.

Each swearing tirade was followed by laughter. Surely everyone who watched the videos, excluding anti-Government warriors, would agree that there was a total disregard for family values.

This particular protest will not be easily erased from the minds of these children.

It will forever be etched in some part of each child’s brain and would be rekindled sometime in the future. For example, take a look at Middle East countries. When some protests take place, children are seen hurling rocks and other items.

These children, though no fault of theirs had grown up with these protests, some of which are violent and have become part of their culture.

For sure people around the world who had sought interpretation of the language would have been shocked because Fiji is renowned the world over for its friendly people and their humility. Whatever happened outside the precincts of Parliament between Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Opposition member Pio Tikoduadua is under Police investigation.

Did Lenora Qereqeretabua take any heed to who was watching television that day when she uttered those swears, supposedly said, according to her by Mr Bainimarama?

This is certainly not trying to take the issue of what happened there. This editorial is aimed mainly at our children who have heard this – from within our Parliament, a place where most of them highly respect and from a group of Fijians in Sydney, Australia. We continuously try to find the reasons for the decay in moral values and the effect it was having on Fijian families, something that was not heard of years ago. Remember the saying – what we reap is what we sow. As much as many are doing for the upkeep of family values, such incidents only put the spanner in the works.

And as long as that continues to become more frequent, Fiji could breed a new line of people ruling the country in the future with low moral values.

It is not too late, but the onus is on every matured Fijian to put their hand up and work towards instilling in our children strong family values and virtues.