Resolution or not, a change is needed

Jan 04, 2010 Editorial

We are at the start of a new year and many of us have made resolutions. Some have resolved to do things that we should have been doing all along but did not. Some of us are going to keep those resolutions whatever they may be but most of us are going to toss the resolutions through the window within hours or days.

Life is more than resolutions and we are of the view that resolutions need not wait for the dawn of a new year. They could be made at any time and indeed there is a constant need for resolutions on the part of almost everyone.

The medical practitioners would insist that each of us exercise and so reduce the risk of hypertension which affects a significant section of the population. The church leaders would insist that we change from the bad habits and so prepare ourselves for the life in the hereafter; the various others would be offering advice and suggestions.

Last year was horrific in many aspects. Domestic and child abuse continued unabated. The numerous reports of spousal abuse were dealt with mainly in the news media. The prosecutions, though, did not match the reports. Indeed, there were cases of some abusers being sent to prison to reconsider the evil. There were less prosecutions in the area of child abuse.

This was understandable when one considers that parents were reluctant to allow their children to testify against the abuser. The reasons were varied; some accepted compensation-a most abominable thing since children are not cattle-; some opted to avoid the embarrassment on the part of their children.

The embarrassment is due in part to the legal system that has the victim testifying at a preliminary inquiry, then repeating the testimony in a higher court. Sometimes, it takes a long time before the second hearing of trial begins. Memory is clouded and simple variations from earlier statements could make some smart defence lawyer charge that the victim is lying.

No one likes being called a liar and the victim, knowing that she is telling the truth, but for an error in recollection, albeit small, is made to rue testifying in court before a mass of people. The administration plans to revamp this system by way of a modified Sexual Offences Act. It may be a little too late for some but duly needed in the face of what appears to be growing child molestation.

Then there were the murders, some so brutal that one is left to imagine that the country is in the Stone Age. The most recent such barbaric crime occurred just before the New Year dawned. Preliminary reports suggest that a cellular phone battery may be at the root of the killing.

There are reports that a horde of people armed themselves with various implements and attacked a lone man, stabbing him repeatedly until he breathed his last.

Then there was another that occurred about the same time, this time in the mining community. A man is bludgeoned in his bedroom and his body removed and dumped at a location some distance away. Some would say that this happens because the perpetrators do not fear the judicial system.

Opinion is divided on the death penalty. There are those who insist that once applied the perpetrator will never commit the crime again. Others say that mistakes are made and an innocent man could be executed. The same group contends that it is barbaric to kill anyone, regardless of the crime that person commits.

This however is not helping the situation. There are now groups of gunmen who are prepared to kill with little or no prompting. The astonishing thing is that some of these gunmen are also supposed to be law enforcers.

It is here that one can only wish that people suffer a change of heart and undertake to do better for the good of mankind. The criminally inclined should recognize that when the shoe is on the other foot the pain could be real. There is always the talk of the criminal begging for his life when confronted and some live to tell the tale.

This year offers hope in certain quarters. One must hope that this hope extends to every section of the society, even to the social deviants.

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