Dear Editor,
The country received multiple knives to the chest this past week - five or six persons killed! I fully expect that some senior official - possibly even the prime minister - will in the days ahead condemn the crimes and express the pedestrian sentiment that all Bahamians contribute to the state of crime in the country.
I would be included in their indictment. But I provide no aid and succor to criminals or criminal activities. I buy no stolen goods. I don't buy numbers, and contrary to what the perennially loose-lipped Leslie Miller says, I pay my bills, even my BEC bill, in full every month.
I don't place my basket higher than I can reach it. I go to work; to church; and then come home. I do some volunteering. I know at all times where my one child is and am helping her on her way to becoming a contributing member of society. I invest time and resources into other people's children as well to help instill positive values in them. How am I a part of the problem?
A big part of the problem is the repeated failure of government - successive administrations - to do its job as "a minister of God... a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." (Romans 13:4). Government, the Privy Council and the pseudo intellectuals of this country think they are smarter and more caring and humane than God. They have demonized His church and eschewed the time-tested and time-proven principles of His Word.
They have removed the old landmarks that kept us in good stead over the years and have replaced them with what seems right in their own unregenerate minds. They have done so in the name of progressiveness and open-mindedness and then feign shock when children die in the streets.
They have failed to support the positive pillars of our society and instead have allowed the proliferation of negative influences and practices that edge us ever closer to ruin. Seemingly, every day, a new bar opens. And the people who operate them seem to care nothing about the greater good, only about their bottom line.
The result is that the peace and rest of hardworking, law abiding citizens is disturbed. Their patrons block the roads and trespass on other people's properties. They empty their bladders outdoors where neighbors are constantly treated to the putrid scents of liquor-powered outpourings.
Such places routinely close at 3:30-4am while patrons get drunker and stupider and louder! How many persons would be alive today if bars closed when they should? Perhaps the man who died this past weekend from injuries during an altercation at a club after three in the morning!
Certain club owners flout the conditions imposed by their licenses - to close at a specified hour and to contain music within their four walls - yet the police, who ostensibly conduct patrols of the streets, and the business licensing authority, leave them unchecked to carry on business as usual with impunity.
Bars and numbers houses have proliferated but only in some areas of this island. You will not see these businesses on the Eastern Road or on West Bay Street/Cable Beach strip, yet, in some communities, there is a bar or a numbers house every other pole. In fact, there are bars AND numbers houses every other pole.
There are two numbers houses in one yard on Faith Avenue! Is not every citizen entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of their environment and their property, that folk in the "upper class" areas enjoy?
It appears that the government and its agencies have given up the fight on behalf of the majority of us. But instead of admitting it, they take bats away from jitney drivers whose only aim is to protect themselves; they tell business people that they should not possess guns, thus leaving them as sitting ducks for the criminally minded. And they blame me for their failings!
Prime minister, your Cabinet and your front bench - in fact the back bench as well - commissioner of police, we don't need or want any more of your rhetoric. The rest of us are too busy bailing water out of this sinking ship; it may be an exercise in futility, but this ship is all we have. So until you can put up, please just do us all a favor and shut the H-E-double golf sticks up!
- Sick and tired of you all
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