guest editorial

Murder affects us all

It was Scottish author and creator of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who wrote: “There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colorless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.”
This leap year has seen three murders, perhaps senseless ones, perhaps some had their reasons, but by any name it is still murder-the taking of another human life. Some of us in society are bewildered by this rapid escalation, yet some of us sit idly by, even though we may know who is responsible and we do nothing to uncover it. Meanwhile, the police are up to their necks with trying to encourage people to come forward with information.
Some contend that telling the police might just cause their own murder. What can we do as a society to prevent these killings? Do we wrap ourselves in a protective cocoon and shy away from everyone whom we have unduly offended? Do we see with our eyes and not reveal who committed them? Will that then stop people from taking each other’s lives?

It seems that the new trend on the island is “what you have seen keep to yourself,” so we all go on our merry ways believing that it will never happen to us or ours. Some of us sit in the comfort of our living rooms and condemn those who have been slain by their brothers, as if to say that we ourselves are without sin, but are we helping to stop the rapid course of homicides in any way?
Instead of pretending that it is not happening, rather than condemning the rest and bringing the sins of the victims to the fore, or even so, instead of sitting on our hind quarters and foolishly telling ourselves that it will never happen to us, maybe there ought to be a drive to raise awareness of the issue.
Notorious murderer Charles Manson said: “Look down at me and you see a fool; look up at me and you see a god; look straight at me and you see yourself.”
We are our brother’s keeper and everything done by one or to one is relative. Maybe we should strive harder to examine ways of addressing the problems which may be causing these murders. We ought to encourage reporting and most importantly we all should be willing to protect and support witnesses to these murders. Maybe, just maybe, if we take a step in the right direction we may be able to reduce the possibilities of more murders for this leap year. ‘Tis said that in a leap year anything can happen so who knows who will be the next victim or even the next perpetrator?