We must put sword to crime
SOCIETY, as a whole, has become vulnerable to violence. With the spate of murders, and especially that of children, raging and increasing at an alarming rate, whole communities are affected by this relentless scourge.
Even home invasions are becoming the order of the day, with homes broken into and residents murdered in a place where they are supposed to feel safe and secure.
How can such violent acts stop for people to feel safe in their homes and communities?
Perpetrators roam freely among us, and it has become easier to obtain weapons designed to kill a large number of victims in a short time.
We cannot stop all violent impulses, but we can and should make it more difficult for people to act on them by restricting the already freely-available dangerous weapons, identifying the potentially dangerous perpetrators and preventing them from carrying out their heinous plans to hurt and kill at will.
Schools and other places in danger need to be properly secured with more security guards.
People need to be equipped to defend themselves, and teachers and pupils should be taught how to protect themselves when they face danger in high-crime areas.
To break this vicious cycle, we need to stand together and come up with a solution to root out and stop the glorification of violence.
For far too long, children who need to be in school learning have become easy targets as they are lured into dangerous situations with “easy money” or “power”.
The gross desensitisation to violence, killing and death and the lack of empathy and compassion, suggests a total collapse of the boundaries between good and bad in the lives of these youth.
With ongoing high levels of unemployment and substance abuse, especially in the more impoverished areas, positive, responsible role models are needed.
Some believe there is nothing one person can achieve in the face of such adversity, yet many great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single person.
A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France.
“’Give me a place to stand,’ said Archimedes, ‘and I will move the world.’ These men moved the world, and so can we all.” – Robert F Kennedy.
RIANNA WENTZE Grassy Park