What Have We Done?

Grief is the only word that might be able to sum it up.  Horror may be another.  Those many years ago when i learned of the death of Akiel Chambers, my heart fell as both the horror of his death and his tender age saddened me.  I thought on the many things he would not be able to do, the many things which would be left unsaid.  The graduations and the wedding that his mother was deprived of.

Then I actually sat and thought on it, what manner of monster it would take to do that to a mere child and further hide his body, only to later drop it in a pool.  There are no words for the pain that gripped my heart as I felt as though I had lost my own family.

What was even more disconcerting was the way in which his case was handled from allowing the investigation to run cold to the destruction of evidence.

Over the years we have lost many more children and now we fast forward to 2011 where we have just lost another.

I will not go into the laws that should be passed and legislation that should be in place.  I can only look at this from the human aspect.  I can only look at this as if these were my brothers and sisters, my children, my nephews and nieces.  I can only speak from the heart wrenching pain I feel at another senseless death, another lost child.

I will not get into which side crafted the bill and which side should push through the bill.  I don't care who thought the bill should be stricter or who thought the bill was not strong enough because as we argue the merits of this, somewhere, another sick soul may be crafting the death of another innocent, another person may decide to exact his revenge on the someone's son or daughter.

As you stand on your soap box and lay blame left and right our streets are running red with our future.  As you continue to argue further, think on the fact that, in the midst of your quarrels you may one day see there is no one left to govern.

When will it be safe for our young ones?

At whose feet do we lay the blame?  Somewhere a mother gave birth to an innocent and somewhere another mother unknowingly gave birth to a monster.  Have we failed our children? That must be the case, we have raised them to devalue life.  They are desensitized to violence and crime, rape and murder.

Where did it start or even better than that, where does it end?

As we continue to take 'ME' out of every equation, we allow our society to slide down a slippery slope.  Yes there must be legislation but there must also be nurturing, foundation, values.  A man must be able to value every life that he comes across.

Have we gone too far from value and too close to apathy so that we can no longer see what we are doing?

What have we done?

What have we become?