Late last month, local newspapers reported on a story which shook the cultural fabric of Trinbagonian society to its very core. The news in question had nothing to do with the resignation of Jack Warner from FIFA, nor did it pertain to the revelation that the Prime Minister's special adviser was alleged to be the person behind the malicious e-mails being sent to Express House.No, as gossip-worthy as those two stories were, what shocked Trinis most was the news that grandmother Jennifer Lalman had been jailed for three months for hitting her 11-year-old grand-daughter on the back of the head with a swizzle stick. Online newspaper and discussion forums became immediately inundated with cries of disbelief, with many hinting that the San Fernando Magistrate needed a stint at St Ann's to have her own head checked out.
One of my friends stated that he would have considered himself lucky, if at the age of 11, he was still being hit with the swizzle stick, and not something much meatier, like the curtain rod. And, from my own experiences as a boisterous pre-teen and later adolescent boy, I too have many stories to tell. Suffice it to say that where kitchen utensils are concerned, Jennifer Lalman has got nothing on my mother!Up until now, the Trinbagonian "Right to Beat Your Child" has been as much enshrined into our cultural and moral psyche, as an American's Right to Bear Arms. There are few in my generation who can deny that a good, old-fashioned "cut-tail" went hand in hand with a full and ordinary childhood experience.
Licks has always been one of our favourite national pastimes, and, had the ancient Greeks seen fit to include it among the sporting disciplines at the very first Olympics, Trinbagonian parents would be consistently among the medals. But, try this for size. What if, in actually doing what many before her should have done, there was indeed some method to the San Fernando Magistrate's perceived madness? What if, in passing this seemingly harsh sentence, she was sending out a statement to all and sundry, that thuggish violence towards children, under any guise, is no longer acceptable?
That our parents raised us to the very best of their abilities, often in very trying and difficult circumstances, is beyond any shadow of a doubt. But, in a country that has continually been categorised as one of the world's most violent peacetime societies; a place in which extreme violence seems to beget even more extreme violence, isn't it high time that we re-evaluate the way in which we deal with, and protect our children?
No idealistic rant
This isn't some idealistic rant against corporal punishment by any standard, because as my eight-year-old son will attest, there are times when I realise that my mango hasn't really fallen too far from my mother's tree. Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely that when those biblical scholars scribed their now infamous mantra of ''spare the rod and spoil the child," they could have ever envisioned it being used to justify the indiscriminate and wanton beating of children in the name of discipline.In any case, this issue goes much further than simply laying blame at the door of one drunken, violent grandmother. It touches profoundly on our collective relationship with children in general; a group considered to be among any society's most vulnerable.
We have all cried our crocodile tears for the likes of Akiel Chambers, Leah Lammy, Tecia Henry, Aaliyah Flemming, Etean George Smith, Daniel Guerra, and a host of other children over the years. All were the victims of the most heinous and gruesome acts committed by adults walking in our midst; some of whom have never been caught.But in the end, after the national gum-bumping and hand-wringing are over, we forget, or simply cease to care, and move on to much more pressing issues, such as the traffic chaos caused by Redbull's Flugtag in Chaguaramas. And so, the status quo is maintained-until the next time that is-when the cycle kicks into gear once again.
T&T awaiting a tragedy to act
It is inconceivable then, that almost 50 years after gaining independence, many of which were spent swimming in petro and LPG dollars, that as a society, we still remain collectively unable to protect so many children from serious harm and violence.Here in the UK, and elsewhere in the developed world, social services work hand in glove with teachers, hospitals, and law enforcement agencies, to ensure that vulnerable children are quickly identified, monitored, and removed from problem households if need be. The system isn't perfect by any stretch, and from time to time, children do fall through the social net with devastating consequences. But at least there exists a viable, multi-agency framework which, constantly evolving for the better, works well in the vast majority of cases.
In T&T, however, we seem to want to wait until a mother stabs and attempts to murder her child, before we allow the State to intervene. And, while we can give every 13-year-old girl a yellow laptop, in a nation which seeks developed nation status by 2020, there still remains not one government agency tasked solely with child welfare and protection, that can identify the danger signs and symptoms if Uncle Sonny or Pastor John starts fondling the young teenager's breasts.
We Trinis are extremely good at imitating what we see and hear coming out of the US and Europe. Where else in the world would you get otherwise sane people wearing shearling coats and heavy woolen sweaters that are designed for sub-zero temperatures, in 30 degree heat? If we can mimic nonsense like that, then surely we can copy some of the developed world's better practices around safeguarding the welfare of children, too. Implementing these strategies would of course take time, and would not be cheap, or easy, but at what price, our future?In 90 days' time, Jennifer Lalman will once again be free to enjoy the pleasures of this life. The reality is that for some unfortunate and/or unsuspecting child, however, this will not be the case; as his or her young and promising life is snuffed out in another inexplicable fit of adult rage.• Kito Johnson, a Trinidadian, is a freelance journalist based in the UK.