When I heard the ages of the most recent suspects in two murder cases, I was taken aback. And to compound the problem, the following day we heard of the murder of another teenager.
So, it appears to me that children have become the new criminals on the block and once they have a reason to kill, they will.
But it also means that it’s because weapons are easily accessible and criminality has become a new culture and if such is the so-called new-norm and has become our new reality, then the future seems grim.
I am also further appalled at the accusations and allegations that persons at the top of the social class are probably being involved in irregular and/or illegal activity through the highest kind of so-called white-collar crimes we have heard of here lately.
I further hear that some have found “legitimate means to steal”, while others boast about “no corruption” under their watch.
The thing is, growing-up in Castries I used to hear that it was “lawyers” who had the most lucrative jobs, but of late it seems that “politicians” now wear that cap.
Sadly enough, though, too many people profit from having political association; and being a political hack in this election season can understandably be a lucrative means for them to obtain material success. We therefore have a lot of bluff and deal-making at the top, while at the bottom we have a situation of the killers getting younger and the elites draining the Treasury.
It is so sad that everyone notices the trend, but does or says nothing.
The future is becoming very profitable, as well as predictable, depending on where you stand on moral issues. We hear of what is being done to improve people’s living conditions, but it is evident too that what you hear does not always translate to reality.
There is a falseness, a kind of “say one thing and do the other”; and everyone is qualified to lead, but they seem to lead us in the wrong direction.
We are often offered hope and prosperity, even cash support with our domestic bills and improved health care, better wages and plenty of work, but for some reason all remain just promises. But where are we to go, to find the truth? Where do we go if we need justice, or honesty? We seem to be missing out on these virtues.
We make progress, but the question is, in what ways? We do for visitors what we will not do for ourselves. We sell what we have to the highest bidder, but care not about preservation. Why we have adopted these trends I have no idea, but it seems baffling.
I do hope that time will heal our wounds and that change will alter that course, but the big question will always be: do we care enough to demand the changes that may one day set us free?
We urgently need to find a way to separate bluff from sincerity. And if we cannot determine the difference, then Crappo will smoke our pipe!
Mr. Ishmael has indeed delineated the sickness afflicting the whole world, including our now defiled paradise, St. Lucia.
The contagion of crime, violence and iniquity has entered the pshyche of old and young, great and underprivileged people throughput the world.
How did this happen? It came in on two well know proverbs of morality –
The leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who follow them are destroyed.
So the people, so the government.
And in Patois – pas nii soutiwese pas no voleur.
Crappo has already smoked our pipes. When children rule over us in crime and violence, Crappo is now smoking the nation’s crack pipes.
So where is the good shepherd who will lead us out of this hell-hole? Where are the saviors who will come to bring salvation to this lost generation?
Who is willing to live in a hut to save the soul of St.Lucia? Mr. Ishmael, can we find ten righteous people to save St. Lucia from the judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah?