Dear Friends,
Today I am going to tell you a true story. A story about an average family. A husband, a wife and six children... three boys and three girls. Both parents are entrepreneurs and between them owned and managed three small businesses employing about 20 people. This couple is your average law abiding, tax paying citizens that are only trying to work hard and leave their children a better life than that which they themselves had.
About fourteen years ago they bought little piece of land in what they thought was going to be a good neighbourhood. Over the next four years they built their home, improving on it piece by piece. Electronic security system, professional landscaping,swimming pool, air-conditioning, etc.
At the time of this story all the children are grown except for the last girl who has just entered fourth form in secondary school.The house has every modern amenity and the neighbourhood is now almost fully developed and considered to be relatively upmarket. The head of the local Defence Force, a retired head of the local Prison services and numerous doctors, lawyers and other professionals number among their neighbours. One would think that at this time all would be well with this family. You would be wrong.
Sometime last year one of their neighbours was attacked and fatally shot in his driveway as he returned home in the early hours of the morning. This sent this family into a state of panic. The wife noted that she usually came home after dark and no longer felt comfortable leaving the front gate always open, as was the custom and she definitely did not want to have to get out of her car to open it when she came home. The solution was the installation of an electronic gate opener. A few months after the gate opener was installed it was noticed that the exterior security lights were being left on until late at night when the first daughter came home. When questioned about it she said that she did not feel safe getting out of the car in the garage and having to fiddle with her keys before entering the house. The solution?.... Installing automatic garage doors and a new back door to the garage.
A month and $15,000.00 later, the husband had to go overseas with the rest of the family leaving the wife alone in the home. The wife insisted that 8 inch bolts be placed on all doors both upstairs and downstairs. Even though the husband pointed out that every window and door was already protected by the alarm system the wife was adamant. Sixteen bolts were installed to supplement the locksets and deadbolt locks already in place.
Two weeks ago a business woman was attacked in her home by armed gunmen. The wife is now insisting that the husband accept the quote of over $40,000.00 plus for hurricane shutters as she thinks this will be a way to further secure the home, protecting the 10 full french doors and 27 glass doors that she had forced the husband, against his better judgement, to install when they were building the house. So far the husband has resisted. Then.... a man and his son-in-law was shot dead outside their home and a few days later 2 Police Officers shot while on duty. The wife is now asking him about getting a licensed firearm.
How long can he resist?
Should he resist?
A few years ago we would have said that we were taking about a family in Jamaica or Trinidad. Not so my friends. This is a story unfolding right here in Barbados. The escalation of the crime situation has resulted in ordinary families taking extraordinary measure to feel safe in their own homes. I hear the Commissioner of Police quoting statistics and the Attorney General adding his voice to the situation but I am not hearing any solutions.
Do we have to resort to barricading ourselves in our homes in order to feel safe?
Do each family need to purchase firearms to protect their own?
Like my friends in Belize, do we have to drive our children to school with an assault rifle in the back seat? Like my acquaintances in Haiti, do I home school my children?
Or like my good friend in Trinidad, do I hire a security firm to escort my children to and from school with armed guards?
This is our Caribbean reality.
I feel the helplessness of the husband in the story. I understand his pain on a real level like no one else can because....
It is me.
Quote of the Day
"Man is the head of the family, woman the neck that turns the head."
No comments:
Post a Comment