WHEN THE NEWS BROKE a week ago that we’ve dropped to a lower rung on the depravity scale, I tried hard not to listen to all the gory details. Apart from the brutal nastiness of this criminal assault, there is the consequence of one more blot on our nation’s image. Nobody (and I mean nobody) has a right to tarnish their country’s name by chopping off another citizen’s head.

Nobody has the right to reduce all of us to the least, never mind the rationale that this is what happens in a world where the best and the worst are heaped together. It is almost taken for granted that the wicked want to pull us down to their level, and we can do nothing about it. The delusional allegation by one side of the political spectrum that the other side is involved in beheading as a means of destabilising the country, shows how politics can fry the brain, adding to the confusion.

What should concern all of us is which part of hell this kind of criminality has come from. How do we, as a nation, defend our name from the condemnation of others, especially the diaspora family whose loyalty and patience are sorely tried, every time another report of depravity hits the news? A distraught diasporite called to deliver this message: “We out here have to pay the price, too. It is everywhere on the internet. You should see the things they are saying about us on Facebook. When I go to work, I have to defend myself from people who want to know if all Jamaicans are like that. What they’re asking me that for? I never cut off anybody head!”

There were many more words about what tourists and investors will think of us. The bigger question is, what do we think of ourselves? The caller continued to object to the bad name her homeland was giving her. While fully understanding my compatriot’s anger, I had to get another word which was that, it wasn’t only the opinion of outsiders which is important, but what is happening to us who remain inside our nation.

We’re having to apologise far too often for criminal nastiness which the vast majority of us did not commit. Unfortunately, in the same way that all of us bask in the glow of achievement when even one of us breaks the tape, so we are expected to absorb the blows when the losers bring down shame on us. How much we can take is another matter

However you look at it, decapitating another human being is so alien, so ghastly that to even think about it numbs the senses. The question continues to be, what have we done to deserve this? Why are we beheading our own history? Is it really true that the perpetrators want their ghoulish actions to scare us into silence and inactivity while they continue their rampage? Whatever the theory, we are not ready for this.

HISTORY REPEATED: You might be surprised to know that this is not the first time that we have had to deal with headless corpses. Reports in the newspaper archives show that in 1952 the riddle of a headless body discovered in a cave at Anchovy, outside Port Antonio, had the nation traumatised. It became one of the most lurid crime cases of its time. The popular feeling then was that we had sunk as low as we could possibly go, but by 1958, another such case surfaced, this time in the Linstead area. Yet another turned up in 1960 in a Caymanas cane piece, but the authorities eventually ruled out foul play, crediting it instead to natural decomposition, the victim having died of natural causes, while travelling through the cane field.

In the current situation, the finger points in the direction of criminal gangs which are believed to have chosen these gruesome displays of inhumanity to strike fear into the hearts of the community, to warn off informers. This was the word on the street from very early. It is now getting confirmation from police sources and from experts who study criminal deviance. Lord, have mercy!

The faith community is responding in its own way with prayer vigils, statements to the media and enough condemnation to go around. Not everyone sees the solution the same way. One leader told me that he didn’t believe that mere issuing of statements will achieve anything.They might get a few moments of media attention, he said, but after that, what? The real challenge is how to get at the hearts of those who have no respect for human life. Prayer is necessary but so are practical measures to reach the heartless. The verdict is out.

EVIL IS NO RESPECTER of any person or place. Who would’ve believed what has occurred in Norway, a country which has lived by its chosen precepts of peace, not only for itself but for the world? For the four million Norwegians, it is hard to accept that one of their own would shed the blood of so many members of their close-knit family, the majority of them young. This has hurt all Norwegians as much as the assassin’s bomb and bullets.

The death penalty has been abolished so the murderer can expect a long life in prison, having confessed to what the law is calling crimes against humanity. Pictures in the worldwide media show Norway’s police officers brandishing not guns but flowers, in a display of national mourning. From the King and Queen, to man and woman in the street, even while they weep, the message out of Oslo is a pledge to continue, dedicated to peace… a real lesson for the rest of the world.

CONGRATS, BUT… The Barbados government is not losing any sleep over the complaints of the Jamaican woman who alleged sexual violation from Immigration authorities when she had the misfortune of landing on their soil. Four months after the matter surfaced, and despite official attempts by Jamaican authorities to have the complaints investigated, nothing has come of it. The defence against the allegations is that the complainant is lying. Not a thing happened, says the rebuttal. Barbados has been elevated to the rank of a developed country, according to the United Nations Human Development Index. Congratulations are in order to the government and people. We trust they will understand the spirit of our hope that they can find it in their hearts to take another look at justice.

gloudonb@yahoo.com