Mummy: Hey Ruth, listen to me: I love you, hear? And just... be careful on the road... Make sure you pray before you leave the house and watch who you go into taxi with... Just... be careful, y'hear?
An ominous, unsettling dread filled the pit of my stomach. A lump formed in the back of my throat. Sudden weariness overtook me. I blinked hard and swallowed before I hung up the phone.
My mom is worried about me... My mom - this woman who has always been a pillar of strength and certainty that God will watch over her children, this woman who never worries because she knows that when we were younger, she drilled general safety rules into our heads and trained us well, this woman - felt the need to tell me to be careful... because she's seen so many young girls get abducted and raped and sodomised and burned and murdered in the last few weeks that she's become agitated about the safety of her own children.
I can't explain the effect that had on me. I've been watching the news. I've seen the spate of senseless attacks on young girls. But it never hit so hard as when my own mother called me to remind me that she loves me and that she wants me to be careful on the streets... It just pierced my heart and opened my eyes.
Have you ever really stopped to think about how our mothers must be fretting and worrying and praying with all their mights that this angel of death will not visit their homes?? How they must be agitated when their children leave home for schools in the mornings? How they must be relieved when their children return home from school in the evenings? How grateful they must be that the only harm their children saw that day were cuts and scrapes and playground bruises?
Betty-Ann Blaine started an organisation called 'Hear The Children's Cry', and that is very important. But I think, in this time, we need another group. For mothers. Nothing compares to a mother's love for her child, and I think, in this time, if mothers get together and exercise their creative genius, unleash the full extent of their maternal instincts, they will probably come up with more effective precautionary measures and solutions for this crisis than anybody else...
Jamaica needs to hear the mothers' cries...
15 comments:
This post replaces the Weekly Thought.
I honestly don't even know what else to say. I just think that the kind of concern and love that mothers have for their children can be converted into workable solutions for the safety of these children...
Someone just needs to get them together and get them concentrating on trying to find these solutions... There may be ideas in our mothers' minds that can work for our country and help stem this tide of crime against children. They just need to recognise it and act accordingly...
Of course, it will require commitment, dedication and much hard work...
how horrible to hear these crimes being committed against women. In the United States, Arizona stands out for horrific acts of violence to women usually ending in death in the desert.
Honestly I don't know how anyone can control these people. If mothers or fathers became too involved would they never let their kids out of the house? Would we all have to be trained in combat & laser the the mutha f'er in his nuts!?! (lol)
Interesting thou.
A support organization somewhat similar to Mothers Against Drunk Driving MADD could or may be instrumental.In this case it would be mothers -- or parents -- in support for the safety of their kids,MSSK.The acronym is irrelevant,but a viable organization may be required to stanch this madness that is growing on a daily basis.MOTHERS UNITED CANNOT BE DEFEATED.Excellent idea Ruthibelle!!Nuff respect!!ESTEBAN AGOSTO REID
RIP Pia Phillips!
ESTEBAN AGOSTO REID
I am surprised - not really, disappointed more so - that mothers have not organized themselves and gone on hunger strikes and what not to demand that the appropriate changes to legislation be made to stem this madness. Maybe they need to be mobilized. The last time there was an attempt to do this was in 2005 I think. And one of the leaders said quite publicly that it was the women who chose not to support the march that were the cause of any future violence. And nobody responded to her for the explicit mother-blaming that has been going on in relation to crime. This story you relay puts mothers on the other side, as also victimized, as survivors as well. That is also a point of strength from which women can form alliances and act.
Women in relationships with men have something to say to this as well. It is men who are raping and killing our girl children. When will women say to men - their family members, friends etc. - that MEN also need to put their feet down and stop other men from committing these acts of violence?
I agree with Long. WOmen in relationships ought to talk to men as well and let them know that they too need to take a stand.
@Esteban... it sounds like something that could really work, don't it? I can't help thinking that mothers -with the fight and drive they have, or are supposed to have- would *hopefully* probably put some real terror into these criminal's... or something like so...
Very good ideas.
Longbench is right. Over 700 children missing in less than a year is madnes. And it's madness too that it's business as usual with the rest of us, whose chidren aen't missing. Yet.
Ruthibelle,read your LTE in today's Gleaner.Great,I am glad that it was able to get some national exposure and that an organization as advocated by you may just materialize or come into fruition.Certainly,it is well needed!!ESTEBAN AGOSTO REID
OMG!! I never even remembered taht I sent it till I read your post. Thanks much. And I really hope some people take it seriously and do something.
And someone e-mailed me to say that she already started an organisation called Mothers of The World Foundation which sounds like they are willing to take on the challenge...
I am sure I commented on this post..did blogger eat it? snif sniff. Basically, I was saying I understand the fierceness mothers exhibit when they think their offspring is under threat. I have experienced it with mom despite our constant warring.
Women do need to speak out about the atrocities. They also stop need to cover for the husbands,boyfriends and sons.Yes, men need to speak out as well against those men who are guilty of these acts
that is so tru abeni. I just cant fathom covering up for a man who abuses my child... what?! You must mean covering him with some injures...
Ok, so I'm not violent. But still. I just dont get the idea of allowing anyone to abuse you children.
And right now. We need need NEED more raised voices on this issue
Ruthibelle - This is YOUR moment. You need to seize it! Don't wait or take back bench. get up and stay standing!
This is not even funny. The more I look around, the more convinced I am that I might just end up being the next Minister of Gender and Religion... lol!! Sometimes I really do get up on a soapbox and preach till my friends have to remind me that they're not the enemy.
And exploitation, discrimination... especially against women and innocent children really outrages me! Gets me soo upset!
But seriously, I think we all have a part to play in establishing the stable society we all want to see. Not just my time, Long. It's OUR time... and the time to act is always now...
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