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YOU SEE how life stay? Last week this time we were popping laugh fe peas soup, over the salutary tale of Rattus Emeritus and the Lime Cay refugees. My mail box overflowed with messages of joy that we could laugh again, return once again to tek bad sinting mek laugh. There were calls to let the good times roll again, but this is JA. Sometimes cawfee, sometimes tea. The reality in the reality is back. We have to deal with it today.
Try as we might, however, it is hard to wring humour from the tale of a 15-year-old boy now accused of driving his father's pick-up out of the family garage, to take five other youngsters from his neighbourhood on a ride. It was an hour of the night when it would've been expected that kids from age 10 to 15 would've been in bed. That was how it used to be. It seems that bedtime is not mandatory anymore.
Before the teen driver had gone very far, the van crashed. Three of his passengers were dead. It is said that others who were also in the vehicle fled. Police came on the scene. There are many questions to be asked. What were children doing out of their homes at so late an hour? It was 11:30 pm. Where was the adult supervision?
Old-timers are appalled that pickney are no longer sent to bed by nine o'clock. Memories are being recalled of the times when, at the command of a parent or other authority figure to "lock off the light and find your bed", no child dared disobey. In the current radically altered atmosphere of less stringent rules of child rearing, children seem to set their own timetable more often than not.
As the events of last weekend are reviewed, conversation turns to the buzzword of the times - parenting and all its implications. One of the real culture shocks for the over-teens is that a 15-year-old could take the wheel of a vehicle and hit the road. To a generation born to easy mechanics, in a culture where a child can master the technicalities
before he can even spell "transmission", ah nuh nutten. I heard someone remark that he would not be the least surprised to find more 15-year-olds or younger jostling for space with the rest of us on the roads.
Certainly, the way some people drive lends credence to such a theory, but that's for another time. Charges have been laid in court now against the young man at the centre of this new drama. He will have to grow up faster than he imagined. And what of the adults who figured in the story in one way or another? It seems almost insensitive to bring this up while grieving is in process, but it will have to be faced sooner or later.
<span style="font-weight: bold">In almost every conversation, there is the sense of frustration about the clash of wills between children and elders.</span> All kinds of official programmes are being devised to awaken sensibilities to the urgency of the situation. We have a long way to go, but keep going we must, and be prepared to deal with all the challenges, for example, like the role of the individual parents.
<span style="font-weight: bold">We're still accepting the predominance of the single mother and only now appear to be winning the battle of enforcing the inclusion of fathers' names on their children's birth certificates. How much significance do we place on children caught in that power struggle?</span>
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus is the title of a best-selling book, which sparked a growth industry in identifying the differences between the sexes. Well, maybe it is time to coin a new title for the divide across which parents and children have to communicate. How about "Parents from Heaven, children from Hell" or the other way around? Pick your planet. The problem is still there.
<span style="font-weight: bold">As technology use increases, so does the challenge to parental authority</span>. We already know all the pleasures and perils of cellphone and Internet usage. Juveniles driving may be more than we anticipated. Next time you're in traffic and a vehicle, driven by an apparent escapee from a Formula One racetrack, comes tearing by you and cuts in on five vehicles in rapid succession, don't be surprised if the driver is your eight-year-old grandson. It's that kind of world. We can tek bad sinting mek all the laugh in the world, but it really is no joke. It is even less funny when we seem to have no idea what to do about it.
THE OTHER STORY which wiped all the smiles from our faces last weekend recounts the tragic events at the Armadale Home, a correctional facility for girls over in St Ann. The event left five dead, burnt to death in a fire on the premises. How could that possibly happen? The prime minister quite correctly has ordered a probe into the incident. It is to be hoped that this will not only be speedy but thorough, for there are many questions which need to be answered.
There's the question of what triggered the troubled state of mind of the girls. What led to the violence? It is not the first time reports have been heard of such a level of anger being displayed by incarcerated young women. In one episode over at the women's correctional centre at Fort Augusta, some time ago, the authorities got a run for their money when they tried to subdue a pack of teenagers on a rampage.
So, we have to ask now, can the traditional "girls' home" atmosphere deal with a situation which seems to be requiring more and more specialist attention? Can changes come about in the face of the continual challenge for funding to provide the appropriate facilities and staff to effect a more efficient and effective institution? We've heard a lot over past months about the reform of children's homes, etc. I have no doubt that the personnel at these institutions do what they can, but do they have all the tools to produce the best results?
The other night on TV, a trade unionist was telling of the concerns of people who were aware of certain challenges at Armadale. He claimed that attention had been drawn to issues which should be dealt with if the girls are to be rehabilitated. The girls had been placed in the home because of offences committed and because of need of care. In his view, these objectives were not being fully met and will not be until the situation is faced realistically. If this is so, then Friday night's rampage should be no surprise.
We've not been told the parameters of the inquiry which is to be led by a retired judge of the courts.
Whatever they are, please, sir, see if you can (a) make the proceedings move as swiftly as possible and (b) look thoroughly into the status of the home, its programmes and the outcomes which have been received. Make recommendations to put an end to "warehouses for bad pickney".
<span style="font-weight: bold">There are a lot more angry girls out there who are at large in the community. Cops tell me that they can fight harder than many a man.</span> Interestingly, when the survivors of Friday night's conflagration were moved to a new facility, they promptly rioted again, with an intensity which left even hardened police personnel stunned. We need to deal with this anger. We can do without another Friday night at any Armadale.
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