TT needs doers to address problems

By creating a social media campaign filled with #hashtags and hand-holding in public spaces. The media supplied roughly four days of coverage and then shifted focus to a much more tantalising faux kidnapping/liming drama.

Were we as a nation truly fed up of the crime situation as a whole and wanted to send a message to our leaders to do something tangible about it? Or were we simply distraught that a beautiful, young woman, an educated and upstanding member of our society, was taken from us? We are not a serious people. The God that we often brag is a Trini has spared us from plenty. He has cradled us safely away from devastating earthquakes and hurricanes, famines and wars.

Even through a recession we can skilfully manage to have a healthy liming and fete itinerary. We scoff at the rising murder toll yet are quick to upload and share the latest videos and photos of bloody crime scenes.

Our youth reside in a world of selfies and memes and are easily delighted by videos of schoolchildren engaging in fights. They are disconnected from reality and consider it a struggle when they cannot have the latest technology and fashion. Our youth simply prefer to slay and turn up with bae.

Crime remains the ugliest monster that haunts our nation and it grows bigger and more gruesome every year. No matter how many campaigns or challenges are started and shared on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, crime continues to exist in the real world and requires real world solutions.

We need to understand the root issues that compel a man to source a weapon and commit a robbery.

How does he rationalise taking someone else’s life? We need to evaluate the functionality of our education and social systems.

There is a need for prison reform.

While social media brings awareness to issues, it only requires the observer to “like” and share. Social media has the power to turn acts of violence into entertainment and often desensitises its audience.

Real steps need to be taken to address real problems. We require real-world doers who take action, without the need for Internet fame.

K Thomas Couva