If children are the future, why kill the future?
Dear Editor,
It is a recurring narrative year in, year out as the same script is read reporting evil done to the cradle.
The cruelty has been limitless and the month of May which has been reserved to pay special attention to our innocent bundles of joy was greeted with pain and sorrow.
It was reported that a 13-year-old girl in May Pen and a 5-year-old boy in St Ann have been buggered in separate incidents since the start of Child Month.
The crying Secret Garden monument erected in memory of Ananda Dean has enough tears to fill the Red Sea. It ran out of space to put names of children who were never given the opportunity to see what their picture looks like on a driver’s licence. If children are the future, is it that we are trying to end the future from today?
It should be understood that the occasional hot air and reactive demonstration are not enough to address the issue of care and protection for the most vulnerable. It is full time we understand that we all have a part to play in the protection quest — parents, guardians, schools, the Church, parliamentarians, business interests, all of us. If we play “see no evil, hear no evil”, then speaking evil only when it comes to our doorsteps would have be futile, as the horse would have been well on its way.
It is ironic that we speak so much about the proverbs — “united we stand”, “no man is an island”, “a chain is as strong as its weakest link” — but we fail to look out for each other.
We pledge before God and all mankind to stand up for justice, brotherhood, and peace, but this can only be realised when we treat each child as our own and each man as our brother. The good book tells us that faith without works is dead, so let us join hands and hearts together with the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offensive and Child Abuse (CISOCA), Child Protection and Family Service Agency (CPFSA), National Children’s Registry (formerly Office of the Children’s Registry or OCR), Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) to uphold the Child Care and Protection Act, and take a stand against any acts of violence toward our children. Remember, you were once a child.
Hezekan Bolton
h_e_z_e@hotmail.com