BASSETERRE, St. Kitts. - The murders continue... the handwringing continues...the blame continues...the talk continues... and still to all appearances we, in St. Kitts Nevis, have not yet made a dent in reducing the escalating rate of murders that plaque our isle.
Any country having four murders committed within a 5 mile radius within four days must view it as a crisis situation and begin to think outside the box in a desperate effort to stop these gunmen from killing people as easily as they would kill mosquitoes.
Albert Einstein said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Has our thinking changed in any way? If not, how can we change it?
Thus far our thinking has been inside the box – stiffer penalties, more patrols, remove guns from the hands of would-be murderers, have a curfew or a state of emergency, provide information to police and exercise zero tolerance.
There is no doubt that these could have an effect in slowing the pace of the murders and everything should be tried. Being passive is not an option unless we are taking to heart the words of psychologist Carl Jung who said, “We don’t solve our problems, we outgrow them.” Some of us may think that eventually the problem will solve itself and if we can’t solve it we must accept the reality of it.
But if we started to think outside the box, we may realize that we “battle not against flesh and blood’ but the war we must wage consists of battling against the MINDS of these young men...minds that are fanatical enough to believe that “Crips don’t die, they only multiply!”
In Norway, the insane guy who shot over 80 young people on their camping trip said that “it was necessary” and they deserved it. How do we battle against such minds and prevent them from striking again?
We must be aware by now that we have walking amongst us minds that do not think normally. We must figure out how these minds left the normal path of thinking to be able to terminate a life, which is a highly abnormal act.
Contrary to popular belief, the owners of these minds are not always from homes lacking parental love or support. Sometimes these minds are born of boredom, the need for heightened action; some are ultimate thrill seekers and are revelling in the adrenalin rush that killing a person and getting away with it must bring.
Look at the crowds of young people waiting to ride on these daring roller coasters and we will understand the superlative thrills that the youth seek.
What is the nature of the mind of these killers and how do we fight it? What do we have in place to satisfy these minds that are not stretched after school, that are deprived of emotional satisfaction and that seek an identity and a sense of purpose?
These minds are regarded as worthless by society when their owners sit around seemingly vacant but their minds are searching, searching for satisfaction of one sort or another. Minds never waste time; they are always working even when you sleep.
Some of our youth therefore find themselves validated in gangs and gang activity. They become worthy, a force to be reckoned with, and they find an acute sense of purpose that engages their minds 24/7.
One writer says: “Never underestimate the potential danger of these people. They can easily be moulded into fanatics who will gladly work and die for their holy cause. It is a substitute for their lost faith in themselves and offers a substitute for individual hope.”
The Christians put it this way, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”
William Sargant, British psychiatrist, has written an interesting book called “Battle for the Mind”- How Evangelists, Psychiatrists, Politicians and Medicine Men can change your beliefs and behaviour.
We cannot afford to omit this level of operation in the battle to save our country. Until our leaders are able to harness all levels of society to work on our present dismal situation, then, short of our individual efforts, we may have to settle down and wait until we can outgrow our problem. But is that an acceptable option?
