Disappointment, hurt, pain, anger, outrage! Why should an 11-year-old boy not be charged with murder? Loss, grief, bitter pain, understandable disgust! Why should the policeman be acquitted of murder and manslaughter?

It may be difficult to comprehend how, in a country where many wear their religion on their sleeves and announce with gusto their being “a Christian”, the ‘eye for an eye’ tradition is held with much reverence.

It is to the credit of our child protection agencies when they can so investigate a child’s situation and declare the necessity for care and protection. Too many of our children are being labelled bad, heartless, wicked, etc when their behaviours are only symptoms of their unfortunate and often inhumane circumstances. Many of Jamaica’s problems are rooted in the tremendous social decay informing the ‘raised by chance’ approach taken to many children who are treated no better than goats which roam in the hope for something edible.

Then there is the loss of life to a policeman’s bullet in what was a petty matter which escalated to a tussle. The immediate response is that something must be wrong if a pregnant woman dies after using expletives. And, yes, something is wrong with this. However, the judicial process found that it was not a case of power being misused or abused.

We are a society that is often hungry for blood! The punitive takes precedence over the rehabilitative. Many Christians take pride in advocating for the death penalty. Never mind a challenged justice system in which the prosecution often suffers from a lack of the best evidential support. Never mind a system where many offenders never get caught!

The 14-year-old boy and the pregnant woman met their untimely demise in circumstances which did not have to happen. The 11-year-old boy, who cannot be deemed criminally responsible under Jamaican law, has been found in need of care and protection. It would not be surprising if his capacity for developing a conscience and honing problem-solving skills were severely challenged.

Then there is the matter of the police. How many of us realise that we do not have to like the police? However, we ought to respect their office and work in accordance with the law. It might also help if we remember that they too are fellow citizens who get tired, stressed, burdened, and challenged with the routine of work and daily living. They operate under orders. Arguing with someone who is working under orders is a recipe for frustration!

Maybe in this Holy Week, we might take pause and see who we most identify with in the Passion narratives. Pilate who declares no guilt but plays to the gallery? Those who are quick to say, “Crucify him”? Those who stay afar off and deny any association with the accused?

Are we able to see the innocent lives of two children? One is no longer alive. The other was lacking loving care and nurture. There are no winners in this story.

The events of Holy Week are really the big story of life, as experienced in loneliness, despair, accusations, guilt, innocence, unfair trial, death, love, mourning, burial, and just trying to live another day. All is not lost though. Those left to mourn and pick up the pieces may move to a new day, a new dawn, a new sense of living again.

May we realise resurrected lives of hope and creativity in how we engage the human condition. Let us seek to restore and reconcile where there is brokenness and despair. Let us face the tombs of hopelessness, silence, and death, ready to defy fatalistic determinations and willing to embrace new life and change in all our relationships and institutions.

Fr Sean Major-Campbell is an advocate for human rights. Send comments to the Observer or seanmajorcampbell@yahoo.com