We often complain about society as if society is something outside of us.

We complain about corruption, yet some of us celebrate people who become wealthy through dishonest means.

We complain about bad leaders, yet we teach our children that success means having money, regardless of how that money was obtained.

We complain that young people have changed, yet we are the same adults who constantly tell them to “do whatever it takes” to get ahead.

We complain about people losing their values, but sometimes we are the very people rewarding them for abandoning those values.

The uncomfortable truth is that society does not suddenly become bad.

It becomes bad gradually.

One person lies and calls it smartness.

Another cheats and calls it survival.

Someone takes what doesn't belong to them and calls it an opportunity.

Another watches it happen and stays silent because speaking up might cost them something.

Eventually, what was once shameful becomes normal.

And once a society starts calling wrong things normal, the next generation grows up believing that those things are simply how life works.

This is how values disappear.

Not always through one major disaster, but through thousands of small compromises that nobody thinks are serious enough to matter.

We tell young people to respect others, yet they watch adults insult one another every day.

We tell them to work hard, yet they see people rewarded for connections rather than competence.

We tell them to be honest, yet they learn that honesty can sometimes make life harder while dishonesty appears to make life easier.

Then we ask:

“What is wrong with this generation?”

Perhaps we should ask a harder question:

“What did we teach them?”

Every society is producing someone.

The question is, what kind of person is it producing?

A person who only cares about himself?

A person who believes money is more important than character?

A person who fears being poor more than being dishonest?

Or a person who understands that success without integrity is simply another form of failure?

We cannot build a better society by complaining about it every day.

At some point, we have to become the change we keep demanding from everyone else.

If you want honesty, practice honesty.

If you want kindness, show kindness.

If you want responsible leaders, become a responsible citizen.

If you want better young people, give them better examples.

If you want a better future, stop behaving as though the future belongs to somebody else.

Society is not just politicians.

It is parents.

It is teachers.

It is students.

It is religious leaders.

It is business owners.

It is neighbours.

It is friends.

It is you.

And me.

Every day, we are either strengthening the society we complain about or helping to change it.

So before asking,

“What is wrong with society?”

Perhaps we should ask:

“What am I contributing to it?”

Because society does not change when everybody points fingers.

It changes when somebody decides to take responsibility.

©️ Sammy Góld