Sean Luke:"The Bigger Picture Another Criminal Waiting for a Contraction"

On March 28th, 2006, another death. This carried the death count in Trinidad & Tobago to 100. Sean Luke being the 100th victim. Sean Luke, six years old, was raped and buggered to death. What did the authorities do? Nothing. My tears and sorrows are with Sean's family and my anger is with his assailants. My condolence to Sean's family. You will be castigated for this harsh act to Sean.

The Bigger Picture : Another Criminal Waiting for a Contraction

There is a contingency of young people out there, barely 21 yrs old on their 2nd or 3rd pregnancy. Furthermore, the fact that they are so comfortable in their ignorance and that they are oblivious to the caustic realities of their situation makes this even worse. They have no husbands and are convinced that they don't need one, tragically, that's actually normal in their space. They foolishly boast about "meh chile fadder" and "meh chile mudder", a miscreant of sorts and himself, a victim of the Absent or Delinquent Parent Syndrome. In his mind, his depraved legacy legitimises his behaviour and propels him to copulate and impregnate our ignorant innocents (sisters & daughters) purely on hormonal and carnal instincts. He appears, disappears and re-appears at the dictates of his hormones and ironically, more often than not, to an accommodating embrace, and this might be at the heart of the problem; too much weakness, too much compromise.

In the circumstances therefore, with free-flowing incentive for his decrepit behaviour, he's not inclined to change. His ambitions with women remain carnal and his modern-day prey do not understand that they have the power to make (and be) a difference in his life. WOMEN have historically been known for their legendary strength. In time past, in spite of prevalent delinquency among the 'macho' men, the matriarchs at home steadied the ship and kept things on an even keel. They were the foundation and the centre-post of the home. Through the years they always made a difference (sung or unsung) but sadly, that legacy either doesn't matter any more or is simply not known. Instead of making a difference, WOMEN (Mothers, Sisters, Concubines et al) are actually part of the problem now, and the operative word here is PROBLEM!

Alas!, they did not fail on their own. They were ably supported (excuse the pun) by the behaviour of their men (some present, some absent) and this collective failure had its genesis in a time of plenty. The catch-phrase at the time was "money is no problem", but what is very clear today is that 'money' is responsible for a lot of the social decadence we are confronted with today. Every thing money could have bought back then, you purchased and technically made them babysitters: a TV in every room, the video, the video-games, the cable. Suddenly everybody needed a maid, and all of this because in that time of plenty you were suddenly too busy flying in and out of the country to be domestic. Remember? The little time you were around, the last thing on your conscience was admonishment and it certainly did not provide the quantity, or quality (time) required for proper molding. All you dished out was guilty love. You loved your kids to death. Literally.

You filled their rooms with brand-named sneakers, jeans and jerseys, keeping them distracted long enough for you to continue your sojourns. In your mind, your kids were always the perfect ones. Your accusatory fingers were instead, pointed at the other children, the neighbours' children. "That's not my child", you loved to boast. It was never YOUR problem. You referred to the troubled ones as "the lost generation".

But answer the following if you dare:
What did you do when you could have made a difference in the lives of this so-called lost generation? And by the way, if they are really lost they are only so because the generation before them went missing. Yes you! Where were you when they were 6yrs old and disrespectful? What did you do? When he was just 12 yrs old and you knew he was sexually active, what did you do? When he started bringing girls to spend the night, then the entire weekend, what did you do? Did you try to counsel them? Did you ever try to contact her parents? WHAT DID YOU DO? When as a young man he started bringing stuff home although he was unemployed, WHAT DID YOU DO?

In a real sense, we the mothers, fathers, grandparents, armed services, governments, NGO's and religious bodies, just to name a few, have to accept major responsibility for all of the above which is at the heart of the social chaos we are confronted with today. Yes! It started in our homes. We have collectively bred the beast that devours us today, yet we conveniently live in a fool's paradise pointing fingers at everyone but ourselves. But the inescapable fact is that WE fathered these young men and women, and mothered them too. But we first have to admit that we failed. WHERE or WHEN is secondary to firstly admitting that we DID fail. We are very quick to blame the teachers, the Church, but we should blame the System, the Leader, but very loathe to accepting any blame, blame ourselves, when in fact the seeds were planted IN OUR HOMES.

The temper-tantrums we pampered. The disrespect we ignored. The sundry acts of dishonesty we denied, (remember not my child?) all formed part of the nursery for the bitter harvest we reap today. But sadly, until WE accept OUR responsibilities at home, in the Community, and in general to effectively change the circumstances, they will continue to copulate, impregnate and disintegrate, rape , bugger leaving behind another pending criminal waiting for a CONTRACT-ion

Harsh reality of society today is we continue to breed criminals day by day and we are doing nothing.

By Dickey Seepersad (Trinidad & Tobago)