Column: Dill On Problems, Community & More
[Opinion column written by Reverend Senator Dr. Emily Gail Dill]
A life senselessly cut short.
A family left to mourn.
A day in recognition of Bermuda at its best, marred by tragedy at its worst.
To the family and loved ones of the young man who lost his life over the weekend, we extend our deepest sympathies. We pray for you and for justice to be served.
We also are deeply troubled to hear of the incident that saw an individual seriously injured. We pray for the restoration of your health and for justice to be done. At this time it is easy to lash out at each other, easy to speak in platitudes, and easy to wring our hands powerlessly.
Yet, we are not powerless.
Too many of us have abdicated our responsibilities to our least fortunate, our physically and mentally challenged and our young men and women struggling under the burden of family dysfunctionality. We have become immune to the struggles of each other and callously shown by our actions that we believe “It is not my problem.”
There are less than 65,000 of us on this tiny little Rock. We can fit our total population of men, women, and children into most American stadiums. Sometimes with room to spare.
Many of us are bonded by blood or by history or tradition. Yet, we find new and sickening ways to be at war with each other, sometimes for reasons as simple as coming from the “wrong” side of the island.
The Governor and the Police Service she oversees cannot prevent crimes or bring the perpetrators of crimes to justice alone. Their investigatory tools and forensic science can do a lot but it can’t stop someone from spontaneously deciding to harm someone else and they can’t always overcome the paralysis of having witnesses who won’t come forward.
The Judiciary can send people to jail longer. The Government can fund better education, better support services and invest in our youth to minimize the predictors of dysfunction and criminality. Yet, all the laws in the world and all the help in the world can not overcome parents who won’t parent or are unwilling to acknowledge that they or their children need professional help.
It may not be your child’s name listed among the long list of crime victims of 21st Century Bermuda. It may not be your family member or friend that is the next victim, but it doesn’t mean it is not your problem.
The Government and the Bermuda Police Service can’t prevent crime alone. We need your voices, we need your ideas, we need your courage and we need you to get involved in organizations such as Big Brothers and Sisters, MIRRORS, or our various charities and churches.
Bermuda needs all of us onboard, focused on solutions and doing all that we can to make our island better.
- Reverend Senator Dr. Emily Gail Dill
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