THE EDITOR: In just a few days apart we’ve seen several videos circulating on socials depicting confrontations between males, most ending fatally to some of the parties involved.
In the latest videos, we see a man-to-man incident which left a police corporal killed with his own service weapon in Couva, a vicious boy-to-boy stabbing at a school in Signal Hill, Tobago, and a man-to-man stabbing and shooting at a fast food restaurant in Gasparillo.
Without condemning or diminishing the fact that conflicts are inevitable, all three incidents were still absolutely avoidable.
The ego is a powerful yet deceptive force. As men, we must understand that our character outweighs any lie that is enveloped in fabricated reputations of ourselves and that the truest test of our manhood is the ability to navigate challenges without destroying the lives of those around us.
Equally, but far too often, we allow trivial things and ill-intended people to derail us from our purpose, robbing us and our loved ones of a meaningful and promising future.
Imagine the horror of the unpredictable rude reality of those who are now left to live on with that void of the breadwinner, the backbone and blueprint of a family and generation to come. Imagine the horrifying impact, the trauma and the pain to the secondary victims of these events. Imagine hope being snatched away without the slightest chance of being salvaged. These aren’t really places we’d like our minds to ponder.
Nevertheless, as families, as a people, as a nation, as men, we need to take stock of ourselves and learn to love intentionally. Love ourselves. Love our family. Love our neighbours. Love each other. For in this we will overcome the plague of violence and hatred that oftentimes brew this level of mayhem and sorrow in our country.
Conflict resolution is not a new and unattainable thing for anyone, men included. It is neither as difficult as we may perceive it to be.
All it requires is one willing participant in a heated altercation to commit to another reality; a reality that begins with a huge step of courage and the heroic act of just walking away.
RYAN NANTON
via e-mail
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