Were criminals test tube babies?

THE EDITOR: Increasingly cries — spontaneously or orchestrated — have been emerging from several organisations and communities in our society. Normally, I would not react to such behaviour. However, I am both amused and cynical with these recent cries of anguish. While I hold no brief for the government, I must acknowledge that I always become annoyed when I see or hear people trying to blame government for what really is our collective and civil responsibility. Crime, no one can doubt, is a malaise which will always affect societies. However, while it can be contained to the extent where its impact on society is marginal, in Trinidad and Tobago, it seems to have assumed pandemic proportions.

The questions on which I wish my fellow citizens to reflect have, therefore, become critical. Perhaps positive answers to them may in the long run control crime in this country: Were our bandits and criminals test tube babies? Did they have parents or guardians? Did they grow up in a community?  Did they have teachers? Do foreigners run our media and promote our youth culture?  Are most of our police officers and politicians from abroad? Who are our religious leaders? Who helps the police when they are in need of eye-witness statements? Who votes for the governments who allow crime to run rampant? How and by whom are guns and ammunition brought into this country?  Who funds these operations?

No my people! No! Crime is as it is today because we as a people are now reaping what we have sown long ago.  Our bandits and criminals have taken our lawless and materialistic values a step further. Now is “take what you want with impunity.” Demand money for no work and win my fair lady without courtship. Crime is everybody’s business. Government and the police cannot escape blame, but we too have contributed and are contributing to the crime plague in our society. Perhaps now may be the time for us to develop a more caring society. Perhaps now may be the time to eradicate all bigotry and ethnic biases. Perhaps now may be the time for us to review how we make our money. Indeed, now is the time to recognise that we are all our brother’s keeper.

RAYMOND S HACKETT
Curepe