Role models

When I was small, I studied in a school run by a church. Every morning we were made to assemble in the prayer hall. Before the prayers started, one of the teachers narrated a story from Bible. Though the primary purpose was religious, I am sure there was a hidden infusion of moral values in these stories. Since the stories repeated every year, we did not pay much attention to them after sometime.

 

Just a generation ago, I guess such practice did exist in every other community. A Hindu is probably told stories from one of their great epics, a Buddhist from Jataka stories and so on. But today these seem to have vanished and are replaced by cartoon shows and comics which are predominantly entertainment oriented.

I always wondered whether this new trend has created some void! Were those stories with underlying moral values, those idealistic role models, essential for shaping the young minds and making them better human beings?