In this book The Wild Man’s Journey – Reflections on Male Spirituality, Richard Rohr and Joseph Martos alludes to a study done by the German psychologist, Alice Miller. Her study was about a man who had been abused as a child by a father who used to beat him for every little infraction the youngster committed. The father seemed to suffer from a deep sense of self-hate, which he oftentimes transferred to his son, to the point that he would not even call his son by name if he wanted him. Instead he would whistle for him as if his son were a dog.
The son, it would appear, nursed that hatred in himself for years; then some time later he discovered that his grandfather, of whom he knew very little, had been a Jew. In his distorted, hate-filled mind the son reasoned that the Jewish blood was the reason for the despicable treatment that his father levied upon him; and so many years later the son very cunningly and brutally used this cancer that had taken control of his mind and heart, to influence the majority of a whole nation to think likewise. The son became a terror to the whole world. His name was Adolph Hitler.
In the Tribune of Monday, March 8th past, the main headline read, “60 Arrests in Crackdown”. A newly launched initiative dubbed Operation 10K was designed to deal with criminality at the street and community level, according to a police statement, and was considered extremely successful.
During the two day execution of this police activity plan, some 60 arrests were made from the targeted areas of Bain Town, Farm Road, Englerston and Kemp Road – all areas of the poor, disconnected and marginalized. From these areas of hopelessness, frustration and despair, police intelligence noted a pattern of criminality, of criminals leaving these communities, committing crimes (apparently in more affluent communities), then returning to their home base.
According to the police, the Operation 10K initiatives will not be limited to the communities named above, and will be carried out for an indefinite period of time. The supposition is that other such havens of hopelessness, anger, violence and death are breeding grounds for criminals who must be rounded up in an effort to make our communities safe. This effort is commendable, but the saga is incomplete, and will continue to be so unless we look at the beginning and the end of the scenario.
More than likely, some 95% of those who were rounded up were young men who were doomed to failure and a life of crime from the very beginning. More than likely most of them were abandoned emotionally, physically and spiritually by their fathers (and mothers in some cases); and so the laws of the street became the primary teacher of their values. How many of them, we wonder, have become twisted as a result of domestic terrorism, neglect and abandonment as was Adolph Hitler? How much longer will the status quo that has been producing such a high level of criminals continue, with the primary community response being a punitive, incriminating one?
Some day soon, we hope that the primary response will plant seeds of hope through reconciliation and restoration, by bringing fathers and sons in deep one to one and small group encounters, by reconciling fathers and mothers, and providing them with opportunities to acquire improved parenting skills. Hopefully, we will soon come to realize that communities need to be empowered to cultivate a core set of values that will focus on improving and enhancing their human existence. Such programmes should be viewed as paramount not only at the community level, but also at the school level from K-12 grade, with parenting skills, marriage preparation and family life being at the core in 11th and 12th grades. Proper human material and financial resources will be needed, but in the final analysis the investment will prove much less costly than the present investment in more police and detention officers, and increased prison facilities.
By Vincent L. Ferguson, The Bahama Journal
