People are people through people

People are people through people
(a Zulu aphorism)

It is those years tween teen and man:
‘There is a space of life between,
in which the soul is in a ferment,
the character undecided,
the way of life uncertain,
the ambition thick sighted:’*
It is those years which are the ripest
for sucking souls to vile routines.
Amputate ideals from the man,
tempt to corruption quite unseen,
inculcate a certain fervent
crooked value, which unchided
men pursue as apes to mountains.
Power, greed, lust and pride alighted,
a social conscience benighted
Give me that young man and I
will give you the world in which we live
‘I wish to try once more
before I bid humanity farewell’*

*(John Keats – italicised lines taken from prose preface to Endymion)