“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” It is a familiar saying, but as a father watching my children enter their teenage years, it feels less like a quotation and more like a warning. Rwandans easily relate. The nation’s history created hard, resilient heroes who, with almost nothing, sacrificed everything to liberate Rwanda and stop the Genocide against the Tutsi. Those heroes rebuilt the country from ruins and gave us the good times we enjoy today. But good times can slowly create weak generations. We see the signs in alcohol abuse, reckless behaviour and a growing loss of discipline among our youth. Rwanda is fortunate that many of those who endured the hard times are still at the wheel. They know Rwanda cannot afford weak generations, nor can we allow the hard times to return. That is why the leadership acts decisively against anything that quietly weakens the generation that will inherit this country. Comfort can weaken the instincts that hardship once sharpened. A generation that has not experienced the consequences of collapse can begin to take stability for granted. Discipline can become unfashionable. Instant pleasure can become more attractive than delayed achievement. And slowly, almost invisibly, a society can begin producing weak men and women. Young people without resilience, purpose, self-control or a sense of responsibility. I see it in the growing normalisation of alcohol among young people, in the reckless pursuit of intoxication, in the glorification of materialism and in a culture where some young people confuse exposure with freedom and attention with achievement. These are not isolated moral complaints. They are signs of a deeper question, what kind of generation are we raising during these good times? The recent cases of deaths, blindness and thousands of delinquents associated with toxic alcohol and drugs are not merely statistics. For parents, they are frightening reminders of how quickly opportunity can become tragedy. Rwanda cannot afford to be passive while businesses and individuals quietly create the conditions for a weaker generation. The crackdown by law-enforcement agencies that seized dangerous products and arrested suspects is long overdue. Many think these actions iron-clad. But protecting the future of our children is more important than preserving access to a cheap bottle. A legitimate business should welcome a market in which safety, quality and responsibility matter. Regulation is not an attack on enterprise. It is a defence against those who make money by cutting corners and exposing other people’s children to harm. And I believe this principle should go beyond alcohol. Anything illicit that slowly undermines the discipline, health, ambition and dignity of our young people deserves serious attention. The question should not always be whether something is popular, profitable or tolerated. We should ask whether it strengthens or weakens the generation that will inherit this country. Rwanda is fortunate because many of the people who carried the country through its darkest days are still at the wheel. They know what national collapse looks like. They understand that progress is not permanent. They know that a country can lose in a generation what it took another generation to build. That is why I believe the leadership is right to act before problems become crises. The purpose of strong government action should not be mistaken as punishment to the youth, nor to deny them freedom. It should be to protect the environment in which freedom can be exercised responsibly. As parents, however, we cannot outsource this responsibility to government entirely. We must raise children who understand that strength is not measured by how much alcohol they can consume, how much attention they can attract or how recklessly they can behave. Strength is discipline. Strength is character. Strength is the ability to resist pressure and choose what is right even when the crowd chooses differently. Our responsibility is to ensure those good times do not produce a generation incapable of defending what they inherited. I want my children to inherit a prosperous Rwanda, but prosperity alone is not enough. I want them to inherit the courage, discipline and resilience that built it. The cheap bottle is no bargain when it can cost a child their health, their future or their life. And anything that quietly weakens our children deserves to be confronted before the weakness becomes another hard time. The writer is an ideator and alternative development financing strategist.
