Dear Editor,
Not so long ago a young lady wanted to know what we used to do when girls complained that they were physically abused by men.
I explained to her what the usual procedures are. I also took advantage of the opportunity to pass on to her what my mother made all 11 of her boys to understand as the years went by. And often repeated it for the older ones also.
“First of all, you are all handsome young men and I expect you to be attractive to girls. This is healthy, but I forbid every one of you to treat any woman like you would not want any man to treat me or your sisters. If any one of you boys has a steady girlfriend, make sure you bring her home and we are going to make sure her parents know about it.”
One time one of my brothers said to my mother: “You always reminding us how to treat women, but what should we do if any boy treats our sisters incorrectly?” My mother paused and then told us to figure it out among ourselves and let her know. The consensus was that our sisters were females and should be treated correctly like any other woman should, but if any man laid a hand on any one of them, we would avenge that. My mother smiled and told us that we should be aware that every deed has consequences.
My mother used to tell my sisters, “I will not tell any one of you that I am your friend, because friends are not forever. I will never relinquish my position of mother. Yes, I will always be your mother and will always feel it when there is something not well with anyone of you. So always feel free to talk to me about it. That is why I was the first one to hold you to my bosom.”
When I reflect on those words, I ask myself what happened to that model of parenting? And then I think of those who completely disregard Proverbs 13:24 and Proverbs 22:6 and are making it difficult for parents to correct their children. So why should we be surprised when we read that the average age of the people in jail is 27 years?
Violence is bad enough, domestic violence is worse.
Now this: At one time my father told a politician who was campaigning, “When are you going to tell the people what is attainable and not what they want to hear?” When I read that, what I accept to be junk, that Member of Parliament Brison suggested, I thought back on what my father said at that time.
A phrase that I use on occasion: “Any self-respecting person would not do so and so.” Actually, what made me look up that article in the paper is because while waiting to pay a bill a person who was standing in front of me while reading the paper said out loud “When is Brison going to stop trying to fool the people?”
In what sense can we compare Fort Lauderdale to St. Maarten? Must everything our politicians suggest be about money? Is MP Brison trying to say that it has reached so far that regular security by the businesses is not enough. What MP Brison has to do instead of trying in a tactical way to relegate them is not try to get back at the police because he messed up. It would be profitable for him to try and see if he could get on their side by getting the government to do that which is right for the police in every sense.
Did MP Brison ever take time to reflect that the Justice Department regards the whole of our country? Every Ministry needs cooperation from the Justice Department. We are a country of laws. Every member of government should be aware that we all need the jail, we all need the Customs, we all need the Immigration and we all need the police. Does MP Brison know if there are enough police personnel to properly police the country?
First it was one MP encouraging the people to gamble and buy numbers to make a living, now it is another member ready to relegate our police, in order to help them to make ends meet.
Are we really encouraging mediocrity? No wonder it is constantly repeated that people in government often say that our people are overqualified.
Russell A. Simmons
