The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

We, as a nation, must not accept violent crimes, especially rape and murder, as the “new normal”.

In the last ten years, our financial and political stability notwithstanding, we have gained worldwide notoriety for rape, murder and alcoholism and ill-health. Where is the national outrage?

Evil not only prospers, but flourishes when good people remain passive and do nothing. Passivity is not always a virtue.

The frequency of murder has become so commonplace that many Bahamians are now desensitised to its horror. Whenever a murder takes place, two families are irreversibly damaged.

We have had more than 30 murders and scores of rape and sexual assaults in this year alone. Again, where is the public outrage?

Of the almost 4,000 churches throughout The Bahamas, most do well, or at least earnestly strive to do well, in fulfilling their Godly mandates. But there are some church leaders who only seem to be able to find their impassioned voices when homosexuality and sins of the flesh are the topics of the day. We must do more, and be seen to be doing more, to address national and social issues which seek to develop, advance and sustain “the whole man”.

The major impediments to our national progress are indifference and apathy. We are at our lowest when we become unbothered by the pain and pathos of others. Indifference and apathy are the last pillars of a decadent society.

Each Bahamian must do all he or she can to show others, and the world at large, that we abhor violence in our country. This position must be evidenced through our words, deeds, attitudes and dispositions.

The outrage necessary to curb this demonic spirit of heinous crimes will only increase when we become intolerant and less accommodating to them.

SIMEON B HALL

Nassau

June 1, 2019