Valentine’s Day, celebrated on February 14, is widely regarded as one of expressing love. Couples around the world look forward to spending time with each other and sharing gifts. But while Valentine’s Day may be associated with love, the real story behind its namesake, St Valentine, is full of bloodshed and heartbreak.
A Roman saint from the third century, Valentine de Terni was thrown into jail for secretly marrying couples against the wishes of Emperor Claudius II, who banned marriage for military personnel as he believed marriage would distract his military and make them less efficient on the battlefield. An angry emperor eventually beheaded St Valentine and Asterius on the inauspicious date of February 14, 271 AD.
Valentine de Terni reportedly wrote a letter to Julia signed “from your Valentine,” giving rise to the celebration of his martyrdom.
Today, across a world gripped in the throes of COVID-19, many families have lost loved ones. Those acts of love often associated with today are thus impacted by a virus whose brutality to the human race has left an indelible mark across the world.
And while there is no denying the impact of COVID-19, there is another scourge that continues to impact family life in Trinidad and Tobago, that of crime, which has been taking away loved ones through bloodshed, leaving heartbreak in its wake.
In the first two weeks of this month, Keithisha Cudjoe and Salina Mohammed were killed by persons still unknown.
And then there’s the story of Alana Mohammed, who in her dying moments shielded her 13-year-old daughter from a barrage of bullets that pierced the car they were sitting in on February 13, 2020, at their Enterprise, Chaguanas home. Her daughter, now 15, was hit once in the lower back but survived.
Two years after she was murdered, Mohammed’s killing has now been deemed a cold case but for her family, Salina Mohammed’s family, Cudjoe’s family and so many other women brutally slaughtered, closure, far less justice, is just too slow in coming.
So many of this nation’s young women and men are dying at the hands of the criminal elements but the wheels of justice are turning far too slow for them. And perhaps it’s because of this that crimes are committed with such impunity, perpetrators seemingly unafraid they will be caught.
Too many citizens are now aware of the pain of losing a loved one and not having the closure that can only come from the police holding the criminals and ensuring justice is served.
It is time for the authorities to ensure this crime problem is brought under control.
The stark reality is that in the first 42 days of this year, up to last Friday (February 11), 66 people had been murdered in T&T. How many more must die? Annually, society has grown accustomed to murders above 400. Crime should not just be an election gimmick. It is a real problem and requires real action, even if it means using the army to work alongside the police. It’s been done before and there is no reason why it can’t be done now. Given the number of police officers who have died or are in quarantine due to COVID-19, this may be the opportune time to reintroduce soldiers to the fight against crime.
