Categories: uncategorized
Date: 13 October 2007 16:50:07
Since moving earlier this year, issues of peace and unity have become far more real to me, as I now live in a city which does have real issues with territorialism, drug problem, gang violence and so on. Yesterday I was supposed to be out in one area of the city with a colleague, but we had to reschedule due to there being a police cordon on some of the streets we were supposed to be on after a man was shot on Thursday night.
I'm not sure if I've just been naive, or very fortunate in not living in areas where I've really had to think about these sorts of issues. It's shocked me - and the more reading and talking to people I do, the more shocked I become at how resigned to the situation some people are.
I know we naturally form into groups as humans, and that to some extent we define our groups based on who is or isn't part of them - people who work together, students, parents with young children of a similar age, local residents etc. But what I just can't get my head around is how people can feel so strongly about their groups and their 'territory' that they feel the need to resort to violence- that children and young people from one area of the city are scared to go into another area for fear of being physically assaulted - and a well-founded fear at that. It's just so wrong - but how do we even begin to tackle it? And this isn't just an idle wondering, but a serious work-related issue for me right now.
Along with about 300 other people, I joined the Peace and Unity march today - walking through the city centre declaring that we will not stand for the violence any longer - that things HAVE to change. Not many of us, it's true, but maybe it's a start. However, someone there today told me that her son was too scared to come, as he'd been told that there were going to be recriminations because of the Thursday night shooting. And that brings us back full circle.
How did we get into this mess? And how do we get out?
Lord, have mercy.