Dear Editor,
On Thursday, November 13, I attended a meeting at the Linden Foundation Secondary School, to which parents/guardians had been hurriedly summoned by the school’s authority to address the serious and dangerous issue of lighting squibs, firecrackers, and other such fireworks.
I had gone to the school for a meeting of quite a different nature, but upon arrival was told that there was a naughty set of children who had been engaging in lighting squibs/firecrackers during school time, but it had become very alarming when one of the devices had been thrown into a room where the teachers were meeting.
Thus not only the parents/guardian were summoned, but also the Regional Chairman and senior ranks from the police force. At the meeting six male students were fingered as the likely ones responsible for this act, and they were placed in a police vehicle and taken to the station.
Editor, I am equally as eager as any other for these dangerous incendiary devices to be done away with. For far too long they have been allowed to disturb the lives of many, in spite of the potential danger and threat to life. We have seen the frequent damage done by the stupid and reckless throwing of these things into crowds − loss of sight; blown-off fingers; some falling into the bosoms of women; injury to a man’s back; and babies, the young and elderly ‘jumping out of their skins.’ I was told of someone who died from one explosion, so what more do we need to see?
But one reason why we as a people (from top to bottom) have become so reactive rather than pro-active is simply because we have grown extremely insensitive to the concerns of each other. We give not a toss about what befalls another, until we ourselves become victims. Too often whenever something dreadful happens, we experience a deafening silence from sections of society that have not been affected. The recent squib-throwing at the Mandir in Alexander Village during the Diwali celebration is a case in point; something has got to be radically wrong within the Ministry of Home Affairs and the police when they know that this form of desecration has been going on for ten years!
When by our silence (except for a few) we lend support to these unholy acts, then it is only a matter of time before they visit us, and while I’m not in the least way defending what has occurred at the Linden Foundation School, we need to understand that what took place there is only a microcosm of our larger society and reflects what we are experiencing every day. We cause our children to adore and crave all the repulsive things that we encourage in our society by blindly imitating foreign culture.
I am reminded of the song ‘Don’t blame it on the children,’ that is played repeatedly on NCN radio, and that we all should pay attention to. However, I’m willing to bet ‘pennies to pins’ that over 90% of our teachers don’t listen to the radio! The thunder squibs and firecrackers, etc, are first and foremost banned products which are coming across our borders, and they are sold openly all about, to anyone. They are exploding every day now (being Christmas season) and in the presence of the police; like other dangerous illegal substances, the police know where they are sold, so how dare we place the blame squarely on the students? Isn’t this absurd? We are straining a fly out of the drink while swallowing a camel.
Our children reflect our society, and we adults too are most times wittingly or unwittingly guilty. We need to stand and speak when we perceive something is a potential danger before it is too late.
The police too who took those six boys to the station must know that they are also a part of the indiscipline. What do the police feel the community thinks of them when they see a particular police officer who drives around a 4×4 vehicle black as tar, playing loud music that can match the sounds of those explosive ‘bombs’ in full view of senior officers in and out of the station. Yet nothing is done, even though this was pointed out before, and even though there is a campaign on to deal with loud music in minibuses. This is a hell of a country we are living in.
To Ms Doreen de Caires, the family, the editor and staff of Stabroek News, kindly accept my condolences on the passing of your husband and father, and Editor-in-chief.
Peace profound.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
