The week beginning on Sunday marks the start of the festive period and it is that time of the year when we urge caution in everything we do.
This is a period characterised by family and religious gatherings, parties and drinking orgies.
It is also that time of the year when happiness turns into tragedy in the blink of an eye.
Most companies will be closed during this season to allow workers time to be with their families and loved ones after a full year of hard work.
To put the icing on the cake, most employers would have been generous enough to offer their workers a “thank you” in the form of a 13th cheque, allowing them to have the much-needed and deserved extra cash to spend with their loved ones.
It is this combination of a relatively lengthy festive holiday and the extra cash that generates so much excitement leading to many throwing caution to the wind.
We have witnessed tragedy ensuing as a result of drunken driving, fights over the use of the 13th cheque, the emergence of unroadworthy public transport vehicles, unprotected sex that leads to unwanted pregnancies and the spread of HIV and Aids and the misuse of money leading to inextricable debt trap among other things.
Every year we read about the tragedies caused by these festive excesses and it should be hammered into all that anyone of us can easily become part of the statistics.
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This is also that time of the year when people get mugged or conned because they let their guard drop in the heat of festive excitement.
Properties are usually left unguarded as families respond to the attractions of festive activities or would be on holiday away from their homes and thieves, who are always on the prowl during this time of the year, pounce.
Domestic accidents, engendered by excitement, have seen wholesale destruction of properties and injuries to human beings as kids and other irresponsible adults have been left to play with potentially dangerous things such as firecrackers.
Worshippers have also fallen victim to the vagaries of the festive season as some cram themselves into vehicles they hire at cheap prices, vehicles whose condition spell disaster from the outset.
The problem is compounded by corruption on our roads where traffic cops turn a blind eye to unroadworthy vehicles for a bribe.
Our roads are turned into primeval jungles by drunken drivers and reckless public transport operators rushing to cash in on the festive period transport crisis while law enforcement agencies litter the very same roads pretending to be at work, but in essence seeking bribes.
This is that time of the year when whole families are lost because of travelling as a unit for intended holiday destinations.
It is this period when the temptation to forget limitations is so great that folly is realised after tragic consequences that are irreversible.
We urge everyone to enter this period aware of the consequences of festive excesses.
