Human life has no value, or so it seems

Jan 10, 2014 Editorial

It is as if human life has no value these days. Over the past few months, dozens of people have been killed and unfortunately the New Year seems as if it will be no different. We cannot help but conclude that more people are being killed because we have held our hand on executions. It may also be that we are rather slow to bring killers to justice.
Of course, we have more guns in the society than we have ever had. Just about every young man with a penchant for a life of crime could put his hands on a gun. Then, with gun in hand, he would launch into the world, prepared to kill anyone who crosses him.
It is amazing how this peaceful country has suddenly become one of the crime capitals of the western hemisphere. There was a time when people would sleep with their doors open, when people walked the streets at nights without fear of attacks, when the common thief was at risk once he got caught in a community.
People looked out for each other. The slightest sound brought out an entire community. In times of grief, people came together to support each other. They cooked food to help out with wakes and they even helped in any other way with funerals. Those days have long gone and the killers now rule the roost.
Some feel that this state of affairs came about when cocaine and other hard drugs entered the society. The government was not harsh enough to clamp down on those who dealt the angels of death. With the drugs came the guns as the dealers set about protesting their interests and pretty soon these guns spilled over into the wider society.
But there is more than the guns. People seem to have lost tolerance with each other and they resort to violence at the drop of a hat.
What we find most disturbing is the fact that the killers do not seem content with ending one’s life. They go to the extremes.
In many countries, the people would have mounted a protest against the government for failing to protect them but not so in Guyana. We seem to be too apathetic to the point where we even ignore murders in our midst.
What has our society become?
We acknowledged in a recent editorial that the courts have become sterner with men who kill women out of jealous rage, but another area that cries out for legal and police action is verbal violence against women at the street corners throughout the length and breadth of the country.
Go out on any afternoon or at nights in any ward in Georgetown and you will see hordes of unemployed youths on the street corners. They use the foulest of language to females passing, be they school girls, working women or women in general. This repulsive disrespect invariably develops into perverse mindsets and, oftentimes later on in life, fatal consequences.
And, of course, we do nothing as the drug trade increases to the point where some people employed to provide service and protection leave us to our own designs, because these men simply enter the employ of the dealers of death.
The solution to our plight rests with our determination to see that the young people in our society do not go astray. In cases where we seek the help of the police we must be prepared to cooperate fully with them. All too often we have people who contend that they are afraid to say anything because they fear reprisals.
Once we persist in our current habits, we could see even more killings. And, who knows, we could be added to the statistics.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News