We are a violent society. There’s no doubt in my mind that despite the global happiness index we love to tout, we are a spiteful, hateful, cruel bunch masking under a façade, which is necessary for our day-to-day existence. It hurts me to say that, especially because of my other better experiences with people who exhibit quite the opposite of that violence.
Trinidad is nice, but for the most part, the paradise has as much value as the candy that was sold in my childhood days (Paradise plum—a hard candy worth a penny back then).
While driving in “town” recently after five years of living in rural Trinidad, I followed a driver through a turn.
He went through and as I was about to follow, a vehicle came threateningly from my left and pulled in front of me—the driver almost resurrected my dead mother, such was the cussing I got in her name.
It turned out that I had followed the driver through an illegal turn. He got away and I didn’t. So I rolled down my window to politely ask what I should do since I really did not understand where I had to go. For that, I became a “f***ing a**hole” and sundry other things before I was told dismissively “It have a f***king roundabout up so for a**holes just like you.”
At least I deciphered the “instructions,” so I reversed and headed in the direction he pointed, found the roundabout, pulled on the shoulder and cried. Yes I did. So bruising was the encounter.
The man cussing me looked old enough to be my father so I assumed the schoolchildren in the car may have been his grandchildren. I cried for them too, before I composed myself and drove home deciding there is nothing I need in “town,” where the roads have changed so much, that could get me to drive out again. I done.
We can be so unkind, unloving, and unforgiving, I’m thinking that whatever else we count as reasons for murders and other violent crimes here, like drugs and gang warfare, could only account in part for so many murders annually. Hatred, angst, and anger, to me, would be greater factors.
Yet when teenagers and adolescents display anger, as in the recent brawlings that have been featured in news, I am bemused by our pontifications. There is a prescription from every circle; everyone knows exactly how to correct things.
In turn, parents are bashed, schools are pulled down and the teenagers (mostly girls in this last season) are made to bear the labels that only a Trini could place on such situations. The drop-jaw disbelief that this could actually happen is also a part of our mimicry as a society.
TTUTA starts pointing fingers imputing (and possibly rightly so) violence in the homes. The police service says these brawls are so violent we should call the police rather than intervene.
I’m shaking my head so violently at that last one it must account for my migraine, because I’m thinking that displayed rage may end in a homicide while we wait for police.
My deepest concern would continue to be the lack of pre-emptive action for dealing with the issues that adolescence is certain to introduce into the lives of our children.
I do not believe for one minute that what we see is anything novel in terms of teen’s behaviour. I believe that seeing it, replaying it and sharing it too, create a wider audience.
There is no simple solution to teen anger and violence. There is neither short cut nor quick fix. The sooner T&T gets to early-life intervention with our children and preventive care for their mental wellbeing, the better our chances of reducing societal violence in the future.
For now, sadly I foresee an escalation.
“The teenage years are difficult to get through,” says www.livestrong.com.
“Physical and emotional changes occur at a rapid pace, and the need for acceptance gains importance in a teenager's life.
“Hormones take over, emotions run high and every teen has to learn how to cope with the new changes. They are also learning to get along with others and discovering their own self-awareness.
“Learning to adapt to these changes can create anger and sometimes even aggression in some teenagers. Understanding the causes of anger and aggression may help parents, teachers, and even teens themselves alleviate these symptoms.” (www.livestrong.com)
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, some of these factors include: “being the victim of physical abuse and/or sexual abuse, exposure to violence in the home and/or community, genetic (family heredity) factors, exposure to violence in media...marital breakup, single parenting, unemployment” and more.
Imagine we process upwards of 17,000 adolescents, teens and preteens every year into secondary school with nary an intervention to treat with their individual trauma. Nary a thought for their mental health status and hardly a care that we are provided with a captive occasion for intervention.
n To be continued
