He sang out his optimism for liberty and the dearth of oppression; “Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed, for the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones and worse, for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe, we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.”
The song was produced at the height of the civil rights movement in the United States when African Americans were decrying racism. At the same time, the country was embroiled in a pointless war with Vietnam, and absolute pacifists and non-combatants were crucified for their wavering sense of patriotism. No doubt, at that time, people were asking, what is wrong with the world?
Nearly 60 years later, the whole world is on edge and people are asking the same question. Why would a country, notorious for oppressing its subjects and throwing them into grisly gulags, flaunt its military prowess by spinning an outrageously démodé move of violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbour? Why would it target high-rise residential property and gleefully slaughter civilians, including helpless children, with a sense of impunity?
Why would it target care facilities for the infirm? Why would it block safe passage to those seeking to flee the mindless carnage? Not that war should ever be excused, but in this day and age of strategic and precise military missions, why would military operations mounted by hordes of well-trained armies endowed with military-precise maps miss their targets resulting in the soaring of atrocities and the wrecking of innocent lives? How sad it has been to watch in helplessness, as rivulets of emotions coursed down the cheeks of the young and the old alike! It is indeed a sick world!
No doubt, many are desperately waiting for Russia to fall by the wayside following the drop of the first shoe, the vicious sanctions meted out on the country, its leader and several oligarchs.
The hard truth is, no matter how long you hold your breath, out of the desire to prevent more deaths, the second shoe, an all-out attack on Russia by the West, might never drop. However, it might well be that having voiced its disapproval with sanctions, China is bracing itself to steal a march on the West by grabbing and twisting the nuts and bolts essential for solidifying its bond with Russia with a view to forming an economic pact that would rival the US dollar-based global financing system supported by the Anglo-American world power and its allies.
An opportunity exists for a Sino-Russian world power to aggressively compete for global dominance in the finance arena. Should that be the case, the current success of the harmful effect of the sanctions on Russia will be reduced to an unsustainable mirage. Infatuated with its pursuit of world dominion, Russia might be emboldened to vigorously chase its revanchist agenda, assert its regional authority, put more nations through the wringer, and jawbone more former USSR member-states into submission.
All neighbouring countries keen to resist domination by Russia, and patently leaning in favour of the US and its NATO allies, would bear the brunt of Russian wrath and aggression, and this would sadly result in increased regional conflict, violence and unnecessary loss of lives. All this is politics, and as the Italian historian and philosopher named Niccolò Machiavelli cautioned, “Politics have no relation to morals.”
Still on the subject of what is wrong with the world, why do some wealthy men, fond of flaunting their libido by luring young women to their insanely luxurious steel-hulled yachts and holiday homes nestled in exotic and paradisaic neighbourhoods, resolve to abuse girls, some of whom are barely out of adolescence? Is it acceptable to confine the value of anything and everything to the two-dimensional rubric of dollars and cents?
Is it reasonable to entice young ones, whose breasts have just started budding, by throwing oodles of dollars on their lap? When called out, rather than account for their perverse and deviant conduct, under the seductive spell of their bottomless cornucopia, is it acceptable for these seemingly untouchable and high-on-testosterone individuals, to dodge their day in court by hubristically throwing more dollars to the problem in out of court settlements? It is indeed a stinking world!
Add to this muddy morass, a whole slew of unacceptable practices such as Gender-Based Violence (GBV), sexual molestations, incest and rape. GBV is rampant across the social divide. Surprisingly, people who are best described as folks who would never hurt a fly lead the pack of abusive culprits. In its wake, GBV has left a trail of victims, among which are, men who toil to provide for their families and wait for it, financially independent women at the helm of their professional careers!
Over the years, this problem has not been easy to deal with primarily because, within a few days of lodging GBV cases, complainants would approach law enforcement officers to withdraw cases before they reached the courts. In many cases of abuse, the only credible witness is the abused person, and in circumstances where that person is cowed by the fear of offending close friends and family, she would advise officers assigned to her case that she would not sit in court and take part in the process of trying and ultimately convicting her ‘loved’ one. The case would be lost way before it reaches the court.
This week, I overheard a law enforcement officer sharing what, in a perfect world, would be a great development. Once a GBV case has been lodged, the state automatically becomes an interested or aggrieved party, and therefore, such a case cannot be withdrawn by the victim without the state’s consent. Assuming what is reported to the police is true, this is a welcome development. However, in cases where the alleged victim makes up the story, with the malevolent and slanderous intent of ruining the reputation of the alleged perpetrator, the protracted court process can only serve to swallow the dignity of the accused person but would never deliver justice. What a heavy price to pay for living in this sick world!
What about heists and high-profile robberies? Unfortunately, we need to deal with folks who are always propelled to action by the inordinate desire of reaping where they did not sow. You will be pardoned for wondering whether, as a nation, our credibility is on the line. Imagine the cost to the nation of daily following vehicles loaded with money, only because of a cartel of individuals who are burnt on living high off the hog at the expense of people who grind it out almost every day.
Individuals whose chief mission in life is to amass riches and flaunt their ill-gotten gains on social media platforms, without sweating it out, only spread a sickening rot that envelopes the nation like gangrene.
What is preventing us from serving as true patriots and taking the initiative to alert relevant law enforcement officers of opportunists whom we have reason to suspect live way beyond their means? If they are innocent, the worst that could happen to them would be to demonstrate that there is nothing untoward in the acquisition of their wealth.
The world is heading towards a non-negotiable cliff. As individuals, we may not have the strength to stop it, but we certainly can help in slowing down its acceleration by doing what is right, taking every caution to ensure that in everything, our endeavours are guided by the enduring principles of love, goodness, generosity, compassion, fearlessness and self-restraint.
