The need for change

Mon, Nov 4th 2013, 09:49 AM

Dear Editor,

When Kurt McCartney was murdered, the family cried and a nation wept. The McCartneys shed tears of intense sadness, unable to come to grips with what had happened. We shed tears for a different kind of loss, one we could not fully explain.

The McCartneys had lost a brother, son, uncle. We knew in that moment we had lost a way of life. Somehow, that senseless heinous killing brought all of us to the stark realization: If it could happen to Kurt, to a pharmacist, to one of the leading families in the country, it could happen to us.

In the aftermath of the murder, our sense of fear is heightened. As Bran McCartney once said so poignantly, "We live in paradise, but we are paralyzed." But if we give up and if we give in to our fear, we are finished. The gang members who think shooting a policeman makes them a man, the bully who thinks making someone else feel small will make him feel bigger, the accused who believes a witness's life is less important than his own defense, must be made to understand that they will not have their way any more in The Bahamas. Their day is done.

From an official stance, we must commit to swift action, swift trials or suitable plea bargaining, law enforcement support, followed by appropriate punishment, including community service. We must say and show we have had enough and we are not going to take it anymore. We don't need statistics to warn us what the perception of The Bahamas as a crime-riddled country will do. We know that already. But beyond the official sharpening of tools available and the uncompromising addition of judges, courtrooms and other material in our reinvigorated anti-crime campaign, we must look within ourselves, our families, our communities. And thus, this appeal: Let us today, not tomorrow, but right now, each one reach one.

Let us extend a hand in friendship and in hope, extend a heart in love. It is only through our personal demonstrations, setting examples that we are part of a community, that we will regain our footing as the peaceful nation we once were. Kindness begets kindness. If today each of us vows to be kinder, gentler, to help someone in need, if we can perform 100,000 acts of random kindness, Kurt McCartney's death will not have been in vain and we will begin our climb up from the depths of fear and back into the sunshine of walking free, unafraid.

- Diane Phillips

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