Are we unperturbed when we read headlines such as there being no word from the police concerning the probe of the killing of Orin Boston? One would imagine that such a case would be quickly solved since the killer is no fugitive or stranger. But what do we expect when those who instead of serving and protecting the people kill them? It sometimes seems like the decent and righteous are rare in these dark times. Some of those who are supposed to be the bastions of law and order seemed to have lost track of the order to not kill innocent citizens. We have seen that the penalty for murder can vary depending on who you are. We know killers who are free from the judgment of man. People who murder the innocent deserve no peace. The inaction concerning the Boston probe can be interpreted as some wishing that the people would forget while leaving the family to ponder and traumatized children asking when their father will return. I suppose the system that enables corruption and evil will eventually topple. Must we believe that evil will overcome good? No, we must believe that the tears of the innocent have not been shed in vain, and the blood spilled would not have fed the earth for nothing. Still the wait seems too long sometimes. Are we comfortable that more than a year later there is no justice for the Henrys or Singh, and they are perhaps hoping that we will forget that too?
Are you perplexed that a police station burned and that there was an alleged confession by a prisoner? Aren’t prisoners supposed to be searched and have their possessions confiscated before they are locked up? Why return the lighter to the prisoner to smoke a cigarette if the reports we have read are accurate? How was he able to burn most of the police station with a piece of sponge, wire and lighter? The prisoner and his relatives said that the allegations are false and that he was tortured to make the confession. His debunking the story of his confession was then debunked by the police who have revealed a video of the confession. The conflagration circus continues. All it took was allegedly a piece of sponge, a wire and a lighter to burn several buildings that made up the Brickdam Police Station. And then within 24 hours most of the debris was removed like we are to forget that there was ever a Brickdam Police Station. The fire service concluded that it was arson. They said no prisoner confessed during their interviews.
Are you tired of being bombarded with bad news? Exhausted, afraid, and sad when you see news like that of a child collapsing and dying within hours of receiving a COVID vaccine in Region 1. Death is not an adverse effect for there is no coming back from that. Blood clots and bleeding in the brain is no way our young should not be dying. Underlying conditions was the expected result of the autopsy. The people have seen the same scripts for too long and they know the answers before they are even written.
Are you devastated when you watch a mother who has just lost her son speaking about how he should be burying her and not she burying him? Nineteen-year-old Joshua Denny was shot on his way to work. An electrician and a footballer dead by the hands of faces young like his. There are young men in Guyana riding around on motorcycles and bicycles so desperate and ignorant senselessly killing the bright and promising sometimes for as little as a piece of jewellery or a mobile phone. These ‘no children left behind’ who are perhaps too broken to make the system work for them honestly are to be pitied but are also a nuisance to society because they choose to hurt and kill the innocent. They are broken, so they break families. They are desperate, so they make their victims desperate. Their cold-heartedness end generations and then they often end up with nothing. Denny’s alleged murderers lay dead a few days after his murder. They were killed by the police. Justice was swift here. Was it because the lives of criminals can be snuffed out without question? That they can be tried and convicted before ever facing a judge? But for ones in uniforms, like those who killed Orin Boston, no? For the ones who murdered the Henrys, Singh, Shonette Dover and the many names that have disappeared from headlines, where is justice for them?
Are you afraid every day to look at the news or open the newspaper? Are you battling anxiety every time you must log into social media and praying that there is no bad news? Are you afraid when the phone rings about what the voice on the other end would say? Would it be news of a sick relative passing? Or news of a prominent person passing? There have been so many death announcements lately. So much wailing. So many funerals. So many COVID cases. So much division in a critical time when unity would be best for the health and wellness of the people. So many empty souls cheering on the division, speaking about the preservation of mankind when they cannot even make the effort to preserve a smidgen of compassion or understanding for the concerns and needs of their fellow man.
Are you contented watching your neighbours struggling to make ends meet as the prices keep rising? But not only your neighbours, for often we are also gazing at our worried reflections. Some sit in the dark crying silent tears while for some their desperation and hopelessness is apparent. How longer will we be able to afford to live when salaries remain the same, but the cost of living keeps rising? While the rich fly to space, invest in oil and make plans to inherit the Earth, where does the ordinary man stand?
Are we happy? Are we hoping that tomorrow the veil that has been concealing much of the darkness in this world will be lifted? That the guilty will be prosecuted and convicted for their crimes? We will not have to weep for dead children. And we will be able to live with ease and not worry about the next month because there will be fair distribution of wealth. We will stand with hope, optimism, balance, justice, peace, and righteousness and know that we are important, we are counted and our lives matter.
I choose to dream because I can.
