…the children
The commemorations are coming so fast and furious, sometimes your Eyewitness just can’t keep up. Seems there’s so much to be done in this world, there aren’t enough days on the calendar to hold them. This week, we’re told, is “Child Protection Week” while we’re in the middle of “Amerindian Heritage Month” and “Education Month”. Sept 10, of course, was “World Suicide Prevention Day”. And another woman was killed by her husband who decided to burn her to death. Not to mention the Police breaking down the door of a sleeping man and shooting him to death.
Your Eyewitness is reminded of an old, old song – from 50 years ago – by the great crooner Marvin Gaye: “I just wanna ask a question/ Who really cares?/ To save a world in despair/ Who really cares?” And that tells it all, doesn’t it? It’s not just about protecting children, it’s about a world that’s so screwed up we have to remind folks that children ought to be protected. And not abused in every which way…and then some. Marvin predicted, “There’ll come a time/ When the world won’t be singin’/ Flowers won’t grow/ Bells won’t be ringin’ (but) Who really cares/ Who’s willing to try/ To save the world/ That’s destined to die.”
Because you see, Dear Readers, the world in which we seek to protect children didn’t just burst upon us…it’s we who created it and our children are simply reaping the sad harvest. “When I look at the world/ Oh, it fills me with sorrow/ Little children today/ Really gonna suffer tomorrow/ (Oh) what a shame/ Such a bad way to live/ Uh, who is to blame?/ We can’t stop livin’/ Live for life/ But let live everybody/ Live life for the children/ Let’s, let’s save the children/ Save the babies/ But who really cares?”
Where, for instance is the “Rights of the Child Commission”?? Weren’t they formed over a decade ago with so many other Commissions to deal with our pressing problems? Indigenous Rights, Human Rights, Ethnic Rights. Aren’t they receiving their annual funding? How come we don’t hear anything about what they’ve done to save the children?? And that’s the problem right there, ain’t it? We can form and fund all the institutions in the world, but institutions will never solve anything if the value they’re meant to promote doesn’t mean squat to the folks in this country.
We have to change our attitudes and that won’t come from outside…it has to come from within each and every one of us. So yes, we must save our children from abuse or, as we know, they’ll become abusive parents.
And that’s the crux of the matter, ain’t it?
…ourselves
Yes…your Eyewitness is sure by now you, Dear Reader, realise he’s in a deep funk. And it was brought on, if the truth be told, by yesterday’s news that 12 persons had succumbed on Sunday from COVID. Bringing the total for just 19 days in September to a round 100!! And believe it or not – -and a whole lotta people don’t want to believe this – the numbers place us way above some other countries panned for handling the pandemic badly.
The USA, for instance, has suffered the most deaths – 670,000. But they have 333 million people, so on a per capita basis, that works out to almost half of ours!! And inside our country, we see the same avoidance of reality. Folks in Reg 9 are complaining that their border crossing to Brazil has been closed and they want it opened. Do they realise that their rate of infection is DOUBLE that of Region 4??
And that it might be due to their Brazilian connection?
…the good news for last
Well, lest you go away thinking your Eyewitness is a party pooper, let him inform you we’ve just welcomed our first Yacht Manufacturing company!! That’s right…YACHT manufacturing!!
Just in case we get bored with our Lamborghinis.
