Dear Editor,

The content of a Sunday Observer article of April 6, 2014, entitled ‘Night of terror: 12-y-o among two killed as gunmen attack residents in West Kgn’ is much cause for concern.

I sympathise with the mother. I cannot begin to think what she is going through. The nation needs to stop and do a thorough introspection. Our future is in serious danger! It seems today that within the scope and framework of our society, education has no value, life has no worth, respect and love seems to be lost among the majority and justice is as a deceased person.

I cannot fathom that what I have been seeing and hearing is actually reality. How is it that a group of gunmen is able to simply open fire on people without a cause? How is it that they kill a 17-month-old baby and, in act of revenge, others seek to take the life of another? Are we so ignorant that we cannot understand that killing our nation’s children means that we are killing our future?

The article mentioned that Member of Parliament Desmond McKenzie said “the death of the child brought to eight the number of children shot dead by criminals since violence erupted between warring factions in 2012. He also said the nine-year-old, who remains in hospital battling for his life, was the 31st child shot and injured by criminals over the period.”

More needs to be done to protect our nation’s children. They are the future. Most, if not all of us, can concur that there are many dysfunctions within our society. But, with all the solutions that have been proposed, where is the evidence of the improvements? Are we a country that loves to talk without it being supported by action?

If this trajectory continues, what will become of our future? How are we to achieve Vision 2030 under these conditions? How can Jamaica be the place to raise families when children continue to be victims of senselss acts? If our children are not safe, then our future is not safe. If our children are not protected, then our future is not protected.

I am not going to suggest any one thing as a panacea to the dysfunctions within our society. But I urge parents, teachers, communities, and leaders to do whatever they can to protect our children. When our forefathers were fighting and losing their lives for our freedom, I refuse to conceive that this is the Jamaica they envisioned. What has become of our national pledge, doesn’t it say “in the service of my fellow citizens”. Our mentality needs to be transformed and the nonsensical killings must stop!

Kenroy Davis

Clark’s Town

kenroy.davis20@gmail.com