The content of a recent news article “Gruesome murder of a
helpful teacher” should be a case of national concern. I must confess that I am
overwhelmed by the status quo, as there are so many social issues affecting us
locally and even nationally. Our crime rate is one of the major issues
affecting us as a country. With Jamaica labeled as being the murder capital of
the world, can we say that we have anything to boast about?
My concern is that our men are troubled and more needs to be
done to swiftly address it, else we will hear about more ghastly murders. The
article mentioned that: “Grossett was involved in a dispute with her common-law
husband about 9:30 pm when a knife was brought into play and she was stabbed
several times.” There was a dispute, and the solution was violence, what is
that saying about our Jamaican men? Recently a mother and her two sons were
also killed, and it is alleged she was also in dispute with the killer, whom she had relations with.
We have also heard of cases where two policemen committed
suicide and based on the nature of the cases, it could be interpreted that they
had relationship problems. Another case highlights the fact that a pregnant
woman was beheaded by her partner. All these cases convey the end results of
how our men are dealing with relationship problems. It seems that violence and
suicide have predominately become the mode by which our men deal with their relationship problems and
that is of much concern. This not only put our women in danger, but also our
children. Additionally, in the case that children are left behind, it may have
severe psychological implications.
This problem is nothing new, though recently it has become
more prevalent. I think it is indicative of how our men are socialized.
Psychological Theorist such as Lev Vygosky informed us that children are born
tabula rasa, which means, in a blank state. As such, he believed strongly that
community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning." Therefore,
the home, school, community and socialization impact behaviors. So when our
young men are socialized in such a way in which, beating and abusing women is
the norm, their mother and father has issues and their father resort to abusing
their mother, this eventually become wired or conditioned in their minds and
they grow up believing that is the way to solve relationship problems.
I think that our men should be educated in the area of
conflict resolution and anger management. We need to be aware that violence is
not the solution, in fact, it makes the situation worse. If we ought to curb
this problem so as to cease the past from repeating itself, then we need to
first target our young men. They need to know that violence is not the answer. Moreover, our men need psychological help. A recent study by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that suicide is one of the leading cause of adolescent deaths in the Western Hemisphere. Therefore if we see in signs of trouble or depression in our men, we need to recommend psychological help. It should not be perceived that "he is a man, he can deal with it."
If abuse, violence and suicide is the way we choose to deal with our problems as men, then that is manifesting that we are weak and not the other way around. We should aim to eliminate the misconception that is
parading within our society that when one abuse women that makes one a man, ludicrous! If we
ought to get this done, it is going to be a community, society and national
effort. We need to reach that point when we can realize that violence, suicide
and abuse is not the answer.
Kenroy Davis is an educator and commentator on social issues. Email feedback to: kenroy.davis20@gmail.com
