Nagas are today faced with spiritual and moral bankruptcy. This is a worrying sign for the future. It is also indicative of the fact that devoid of ethics we have become grossly materialistic and our only aim in life seems to accumulate more and more wealth and power. This malaise is not confined to our politicians’ alone but has even affected our social and religious organizations. As Wordsworth aptly lamented this state of affairs by saying that the modern man is daily going farther away from the sacred and his desire is to accumulate maximum material gain. And with this aim, like a machine we are busy day in and day out in our power struggles. Instead of being public servants or their leader we have become mere mercenary and have forgotten our God given responsibility. Simply put, despite being a Christian State we have failed to miserably. The bible teaches us that man does not live by bread alone. Accumulation of wealth is not the sole aim of human life. A balance has to be there because a life given to too much emphasis on securing material gain is its very negation. According to John Ruskin, the greatest wealth of a nation is the happiness of its people. But going by the wealth of a few, a majority of people are surely unhappy and this is not a good sign. Corrupt money certainly cannot bring prosperity and happiness to society. Hegemony cannot foster fraternity or the equal respect for one’s rights.
What we need at this juncture is a reformation of our politics, government, churches, civil society, youths, public etc. Our Churches must do more and give more to its own people in terms of mission, renewal and prayer. Nagas take great pride in the achievement of sending out our missionaries to spread the gospel and bring about reformation and revival of other peoples. Isn’t it time for the Church in particular to start looking inward, at ourselves, at our moral decay. If at all we need a reformation and a mission, it has to start at home. Otherwise our tall claims of bringing the good news to others will be in vain. Recent incidents of rape, murder, extortion, cheating, land encroachment and other corrupt practices and illegality in Naga society is indicative of our moral degeneration to such a low that as a people we have been reduced to the likeness of animals. Naga society is in deep trouble and this fact should be realized by all the concerned people—from our civil society, churches, students, political parties etc. We are failing as a Christian people in the 21st century. While we have tried to keep pace with the competitive world, we have ended up compromising on our values, integrity and character. There is a need for reformation in our land. Our churches must start sending missionaries to our villages, our towns and even to our homes. One area that must be given importance is on value education. The values that spring from within the core of the heart like love, compassion, sympathy, empathy, tolerance, etc. lay the foundation for the external practised values like peace, love, honesty, discipline, punctuality, loyalty, goodness etc. And isn’t this the need of the hour for the Naga people?
