Rest in Peace
This is my second post for the day. The first is here. I'm sure by now most, if not all of you must know of the little six year old boy, Sean Luke, who was brutally, unthinkably and fatally sodomized with a length of cane stalk that totally disrupted his insides.
Two teens (barely children themselves) have been held in connection with the crime. The Letters page in today's Express features a flurry of outraged, confused, grieving, angry and sympathetic letters from both the local and international public. I'm sure there were more ... but perhaps not enough space to publish them. The letter that struck me most was from a woman who said she is now afraid to let her small son play outdoors. She asks: "Must I raise him in a prison of my own?" She ends by saying that she will only have one child in this lifetime, since she cannot see a reason for wanting to bring another one into the world we are currently living in.
An e-mail, signed Concerned Father, was circulated yesterday, requesting that people wear black and drive with their lights on today - in memory of Sean and also to protest Gov't's inability to effectively deal with the crime situation. My question is: Do Gov't people ever receive these kinds of e-mails? Will they even know what "lights on today" is standing for?
The sad thing is, Trinidadians can be copycats when they are ready. When the first major sensational kidnapping happened some years ago, there were several that occurred afterwards. Everyone went around saying "Dey could copycat, yes!" How many years later ... and kidnappings are still 'in vogue'. Now with the second little boy being buggered for the year ... will this also become a copycat series? Monkey see, monkey do? The same way some people blatantly copy creative ideas (instead of being original - i.e. plagiarism), there must be people who copy destructive ideas. They see someone do something and they say "Ey, boy! Ah didn' tink of dat one nah! da's a good one!"
I remember once when I was doing a graphics course (about 2 years ago), we were talking about Trinidad and crime ... and the teacher, Freedom, was telling us that he personally knows criminals who boast about getting on the front page of the papers. They feel like celebrities when they see their crime featured (sensationalised) in the media. Ironically, Freedom is no longer alive (but, he is 'free'). A few months ago, he was in the 'wrong place at the wrong time' (i.e. buying lunch downtown like any regular citizen) and was fatally shot.
The long and short of it is, people from all walks of life are saying that T & T is under a very dark cloud ... and the Sean Luke killing has spurred this notion further into the minds of the populace. many things are stirring the populace to stand up. And what will come of our standing? Something must. There must be a turning point somewhere.
On behalf of Now is Wow, sympathies to the little boy's family and to those who knew him. May God give you strength and solace.
Two teens (barely children themselves) have been held in connection with the crime. The Letters page in today's Express features a flurry of outraged, confused, grieving, angry and sympathetic letters from both the local and international public. I'm sure there were more ... but perhaps not enough space to publish them. The letter that struck me most was from a woman who said she is now afraid to let her small son play outdoors. She asks: "Must I raise him in a prison of my own?" She ends by saying that she will only have one child in this lifetime, since she cannot see a reason for wanting to bring another one into the world we are currently living in.
An e-mail, signed Concerned Father, was circulated yesterday, requesting that people wear black and drive with their lights on today - in memory of Sean and also to protest Gov't's inability to effectively deal with the crime situation. My question is: Do Gov't people ever receive these kinds of e-mails? Will they even know what "lights on today" is standing for?
The sad thing is, Trinidadians can be copycats when they are ready. When the first major sensational kidnapping happened some years ago, there were several that occurred afterwards. Everyone went around saying "Dey could copycat, yes!" How many years later ... and kidnappings are still 'in vogue'. Now with the second little boy being buggered for the year ... will this also become a copycat series? Monkey see, monkey do? The same way some people blatantly copy creative ideas (instead of being original - i.e. plagiarism), there must be people who copy destructive ideas. They see someone do something and they say "Ey, boy! Ah didn' tink of dat one nah! da's a good one!"
I remember once when I was doing a graphics course (about 2 years ago), we were talking about Trinidad and crime ... and the teacher, Freedom, was telling us that he personally knows criminals who boast about getting on the front page of the papers. They feel like celebrities when they see their crime featured (sensationalised) in the media. Ironically, Freedom is no longer alive (but, he is 'free'). A few months ago, he was in the 'wrong place at the wrong time' (i.e. buying lunch downtown like any regular citizen) and was fatally shot.
The long and short of it is, people from all walks of life are saying that T & T is under a very dark cloud ... and the Sean Luke killing has spurred this notion further into the minds of the populace. many things are stirring the populace to stand up. And what will come of our standing? Something must. There must be a turning point somewhere.
On behalf of Now is Wow, sympathies to the little boy's family and to those who knew him. May God give you strength and solace.
*
Elspeth
posted by Elspeth at Thursday, March 30, 2006
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