When indiscipline leads to criminality

Some time ago, I wrote an little post on discipline and school children.

I have to say, daily I am being shown how sadly they are lacking any kind of discipline. I mean, taking things to extreme is not a normal thing, but it happened once, it could happen again.

The indiscipline that leads to that though starts small. Check this eye-witness account:

I would like to highlight a very disturbing incident that reflects the crime situation in this country. While taking the 4:30 p.m. Morvant bus home from school last week Wednesday, I witnessed the most disturbing and disgusting incident yet in all my 16 years.

On this particular ride, there was a somewhat effeminate schoolboy who was thought to be gay. Two older schoolboys, let's call them HYPE and FRIEND, decided upon heckling this young man with disgusting comments while the boy ignored them. It got to a point where I thought of saying something about it but decided against my better judgement. Another schoolboy present, SEPOS, told them to leave the boy alone, that the boy might have problems. This greatly angered HYPE and resulted in him cursing out SEPOS. On HYPE's stop, as he passed SEPOS, he swung his arm around, slapped SEPOS, and then calmly walked off the bus.

This was no ordinary slap though, as the slap was administered with such a force that the boy's head banged against one of the bus' iron rails and bounced off of it. The impact of this slap must have surely cracked either his skull or his jaw. This all happened directly infront of me so I saw it,

I heard it and I definitely felt it for him. The reaction of the people present was even more appalling. Some school children laughed, others were in shock as I was, but most of all, the adults opted to stay quiet, to pretend as if nothing had just happened, as if they hadn't just witnessed one of the most disgusting displays of human ignorance and cruelty. The SEPOS boy, obviously in a lot of pain and shame, got out on the next stop although he lived no where close to there. I was in such a shock knowing that that could have been me if I had said anything. After experiencing this, I now see why criminals are running this country so efficiently. It is because people are living constantly in fear of what might happen to them if they speak out against the criminals. I felt so ashamed to be on this bus to witness this shameful display of human behaviour. Shame on you.

Natasha B

Morvant

Sadly, this 'happy slapping' happens not only in Trinidad but also elsewhere. The big difference is that elsewhere there are real police on duty, not dunceys. And that makes a lot of difference.