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.”