IN 1903 Jack London, then aged 26 years old, wrote 'The Call of the Wild', which instantly rocketed him to worldwide fame as an author. London had a difficult childhood in San Francisco, having left school at age 14 to work in a fish-canning factory in order to support his family. Becoming frustrated with the job he joined the Gold Rush and travelled to the Klondike where he led an incredibly rough life for eight months before returning home and starting to write. Jack had learned about hardship.
'The Call of the Wild' takes place in Alaska. It is a story about a Husky dog that is severely ill-treated, beaten and starved by its owner who runs away and joins up with a pack of wolves. He reverts to his original wild state and later returns to his master whom he brutally kills. Jack London initially denied that he was writing allegorically, and that the dog was indeed 'man', or mankind. The fact is that the Husky reverted to becoming a wild animal; because of the treatment he received at the hands of his master. This story may be a far cry from reality, because it is fiction, but truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.
Why are we travelling along this road you may ask? This column is about Human Rights and that includes the rights of children. We must take a serious look at how we rear our children if we do not want them to revert to the wild. We have to consider why Jamaica has such a high murder rate. Why are so many of our youth turning to the gun and other forms of violence against their family, girlfriends and neighbours? Why have we resorted to reprisals, gang warfare as an answer to any degree of conflict? We have to be reminded that 'children live what they learn' and as adults accept full responsibility for our role in the creation of the monster of murder and mayhem in the hearts of our young people. We are responsible because we didn't speak out when we should have and so have allowed 'evil to flourish'. This is the truth.
Our society must look at the factors that influence how we rear our children. How can a teenaged mother provide the nutritional basics as well as love, security and attention if she has neither skill nor occupation? The innocent baby has little chance of becoming a well-adjusted, productive human being. Yet we all know that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of children living in dire conditions throughout Jamaica. Consider the infants burnt to death in their homes, the homeless and street children as well as those that go to school hungry and under-cared for. Even in this twenty first century we have country children who walk miles along rough roads to attend a school with nine grades and two teachers.
Then consider the street-wise city kids that go to bed every night to the sound of gunshots - those who witness parents or loved ones brutally murdered and see bodies lying on the streets in pools of blood children who grow up without ever seeing their parents fully employed children who live under stalls in the market barrel children living for all intents and purposes alone children tending children. What can we honestly expect from these kids? Is it reasonable to expect that some would become 'wild'? The lure of drugs, drug money, the gun and suicide must seem overwhelming to some. Yes, Jack London's 'Call of the Wild', though written over 100 years ago should be considered relevant today.
One may be moved to reflect on the young Jamaican who is a suspect in the American 'Sniper' case and wonder how his circumstances might have been different were he brought up in a stable home environment. It has been upsetting for us to realise he is a product of our beautiful island, and even more distressing to acknowledge that he is not an isolated case. What choice of life style, belief system and code of ethics are being demonstrated to our children? What choices can we expect them to make? Our current system that leaves so many young persons feeling abandoned, resorting to brutality and violence and murder, must be given immediate attention. In all fairness, shouldn't we all be putting our minds together to save our children?
It has been very hard to write this article. There is no intention whatsoever to imply that our children can or should be compared to animals, for indeed they are only God's children, deserving of 0the very best we can give them.
Comments and feedback on this article may be sent to Jamaicans For Justice by e-mail at ja.for.justice-@mail.infochan.com
