By Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ & Director, CREDI
Which one of you did not weep at the heart-rending cries of Veena Subar, the inconsolable mother of 13-year-old Videsh Subar, when she saw the dead body of her only child – his hands tied behind his back and his throat slit? She had conceived him after trying for 14 years.
The Newsday reported: “In a scene right out of a Hollywood horror movie, Shariff Mohammed walked into his Malabar house yesterday (June 28) to find it ransacked, his wife, 56-year-old Hafeeza ‘Rose’ Mohammed and their neighbour Vedesh Subar, 13, both bound, gagged and dead. The throats of the woman and schoolboy were slit.”
Sadly, this was no Hollywood horror movie. At the time of writing this article, there have been 255 murders in T&T for the year and one kidnapping for ransom of the owner of Puff N’ Stuff Bakery. These dastardly crimes reflect the depths to which some of our citizens have fallen.
If we are to reclaim our streets/communities and promote morals and values that are underpinned by respect for life and for the dignity of each person, we cannot afford to sit on the sidelines as armchair Christians. Each of us has a part to play to build communities of love and peace.
This year our Church marks the 50th Anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Populorum Progressio (The Development of Peoples). His message is still pertinent today. Inter alia, he stated: “32. …The present state of affairs must be confronted boldly, and its concomitant injustices must be challenged and overcome. Continuing development calls for bold innovations that will work profound changes. The critical state of affairs must be corrected for the better without delay. Everyone must lend a ready hand to this task, particularly those who can do most by reason of their education, their office, or their authority.”
Some of the messages on social media seem to highlight a feeling of despair among some citizens. We cannot afford to become despondent. Two women’s statements on Facebook, in particular, struck me. One stated: “I always ask myself: ‘Should we have attained Independence? To what end, pray tell?’” Another asked: “Why have we become so desensitised to heinous crimes like murder?”
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We must never forget the brutality and indignity of colonialism. Heed the words of the writer, TF Hodge: “When individuals and communities do not govern self, they risk being ruled by external forces that care less about the well-being of the village.”
As we approach our 55th anniversary as an independent nation, let us do as President Anthony Carmona urged us to do in his Independence Day Message last year, and see this as “a necessary time for critical reflection and introspection”. He said: “To be truly independent means to unshackle ourselves from bondage. It means invariably, that critical, objective, impartial and informed judgement must be engaged at all times when assessing and tackling our national situations, problems and issues…Our patriotism must neither be selective, convenient, nor transient…Ours is a nation that is a pillar of strength.”
While we continue to offer prayers for the victims of violence and their families, let us play our part to raise our children with Christian values; to reach out to other parents/families whose children are at-risk and who need our support to keep them on the straight and narrow; to support prison ministries so that restorative justice will assist in converting the hearts and minds of offenders.
And as for those who wield power in our country – at all levels, let us use our human ingenuity to turn things around. The social teaching of our Church tells us that the economy should work for the people. To ensure that it does, we need to address, for example, the many failing institutions in T&T – police service, forensics, the administration of justice, the education system, healthcare, social services, the public service etc., etc.
Watching sessions of joint select committees is often a painful experience. We are deficient in so many ways. Fifty-five years after Independence and accountability, transparency, integrity, and a commitment to discipline, production, and tolerance, our three watchwords, remain a forlorn dream.
Let us pray/work for the day when our politicians will put country first and collaborate more effectively to do the people’s business! In the midst of the many social ills that befall us, I urge politicians to stop playing the blame game and work together to lift our people to “a higher, more noble place” (Martin Luther King Jr).
