Playing with buzz phrase
YOUR child is my child and my child is your child.
This is the latest buzz phrase on the streets after the recent cases of extreme abuse meted out to children in our communities. Yes, women are also recognised as victims, but we simply exclude men as victims, hence the birth of #menaretrash. In fact society appears to blame men for all the wrong doing. That obviously is debatable because all men are not trash.
There are some questions which come to mind when we take co-ownership of children though. 1. Does it include all children? Obviously yes. Okay now let’s throw some curve balls. What about those little dirty faces dodging between cars at the robots begging for bread. Those little ones who slip their hands into your bag and make off with your purse or cellphone. That little one who tells you where to get off. That little one who shows you the middle finger? 2. At which age is a person no longer a child? Here I think of someone like Henri van Breda who is on trial for murdering his parents and brother or that other 16-year-old rapist. Surely they are also just children. Are they also your and my child or does a child disqualify him/herself when they step out of line or is there an age limit?
The two points above are sufficient to make one think a bit.
May I ask if the slogan is accepted by all, male and female, or is it only applicable to people living on the Cape Flats? Yes, if your child is my child and my child is your child, then your problems are my problems and vice versa. All our problems and challenges. You cannot only accept 10%, 25% or half a child. It is all or nothing. Women are also taking responsibility for the chaos. Now what?
We the people collectively become co-responsible for the moral decay in our townships, or is it only a saying we play around with. KENNETH M ALEXANDER Athlone