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Friday, April 4, 2025

Seepersad calls on men ‘pattern their lives after Joseph’

by

Sascha Wilson
101 days ago
20241224
Justice Frank Seepersad meets and greets members of the congregation following his sermon at the Susamachar Presbyterian Church in San Fernando on Sunday.

Justice Frank Seepersad meets and greets members of the congregation following his sermon at the Susamachar Presbyterian Church in San Fernando on Sunday.

INNIS FRANCIS

As the world cel­e­brates Christ­mas, a call is be­ing made for men to fash­ion their lives af­ter Joseph by ex­hibit­ing val­ues of in­tegri­ty, com­pas­sion and re­spect.

De­liv­er­ing a Christ­mas ser­mon at Susamachar Pres­by­ter­ian Church in San Fer­nan­do as a guest preach­er on Sun­day, High Court judge Frank Seep­er­sad said re­gret­tably, men like Joseph were few and far. 

“In­stead of at­ti­tudes of can­dour, car­ing and com­pas­sion, far too many live lives which are char­ac­terised by ar­ro­gance, of­fi­cious­ness and self-ag­gran­dis­e­ment. So, the first call to­day goes out to all our men and in par­tic­u­lar those charged with lead­er­ship roles whether those roles are with­in homes, the com­mu­ni­ty, at work­places or at the high­est ech­e­lons of pow­er, to en­sure that they pat­tern their lives af­ter Joseph.”

Seep­er­sad added that all who hold po­si­tions of au­thor­i­ty must strive to live in a way which earns re­spect.

“Do we re­spect the men in our lives, do we re­spect our lead­ers, de­ci­sion-mak­ers, our judges and all who hold po­si­tions of au­thor­i­ty? The rule of law is con­tin­gent up­on re­spect as peo­ple are more like­ly to re­spect laws and de­ci­sions when they re­spect the peo­ple who make and ad­min­is­ter them.”

Not­ing that there is an on­slaught of do­mes­tic and gen­der-based vi­o­lence—this year be­ing ex­cep­tion­al­ly bru­tal—he ques­tioned why men were dis­play­ing that lev­el of hate. 

“Why are our women and chil­dren not loved and em­braced in­stead of be­ing beat­en and bru­talised? Far too of­ten we see gen­der-based vi­o­lence in house­holds where men op­er­ate with the delu­sion­al mind­set of, ‘If I can’t have she, then no­body can have she.’ Women are not trad­able com­modi­ties, you do not own them!”

Seep­er­sad said men must val­ue, love and sup­port women and chil­dren.

“Far too many lead­ers and men in our so­ci­ety ex­plode at the sign of con­flict. Dis­agree­ment and dis­ap­point­ment are met with rage and di­a­logue that is di­vi­sive and dis­mis­sive. Their words are full of ven­om and their ac­tions are de­signed to de­grade.”

Not­ing that youths are in cri­sis, he said that young peo­ple are the prod­uct of a cor­rupt and self-ab­sorbed so­ci­ety.

“They have no re­spect for them­selves or oth­ers, com­pas­sion is a for­eign con­cept and their God is gun and gold.”  

So­ci­ety, he claimed, con­tributed to mould­ing them in­to cal­lous crim­i­nals by de­priv­ing them of care, at­ten­tion, and nur­tur­ing, and failed to in­stil in them a sense of faith and fam­i­ly and the con­cept that ac­tions have con­se­quences.

He said men must take a more di­rect role in their chil­dren’s lives, es­pe­cial­ly young sons who are eas­i­ly in­flu­enced by the fast life.

“These tru­ant youths are not cock­roach­es, they are lost souls who are the prod­uct of a cor­rupt, cal­lous and self-ab­sorbed so­ci­ety. They have been brought up in a cli­mate of self-cen­tred­ness and in a cul­ture where women are de­val­ued and treat­ed as a bumper every Car­ni­val. They have seen that in this so­ci­ety ac­count­abil­i­ty for one’s mis­steps is all but ab­sent and the su­prema­cy of God has been re­placed by the de­sire to live for to­day. We have cre­at­ed them and we now need to help them if we are to curb the crim­i­nal cat­a­stro­phe which con­fronts us.”  


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