This morning I woke up to the devastating news that an Ariana Grande concert had been bombed and 22 people are dead! TWENTY TWO people. Some of those, children. The lives of those twenty-two people’s family members will be changed for the worse for ever. They will now, live their lives consumed with guilt and grief. They will question their own decision-making “was it my fault for letting her go?” and they will look for someone to blame whether or not that person or group is responsible. Because when someone we love dies, we need someone to blame. We need someone to be held accountable.
What happened in Manchester isn’t the only crime against humanity we need to be concerned with though.
Our kids are dying right here on our door step too
In the Western Cape alone, 19 children have been killed since January this year. NINETEEN CHILDREN HAVE BEEN MURDERED IN MY HOME TOWN THIS YEAR ALONE!
Earlier this month, four-year-old Iyapha Yamile‘s body was found in a local informal settlement shortly after she’d been reported missing.
Several days later in the same area, a man was arrested for the murder of his 14-month-old daughter, Lindokuhle Kota. Earlier this year, 13-year-old Rene Roman‘s body was found in Lavender Hill.
Around the same time, police found the body of 11-year-old Stacha Arendse on a soccer field in Mitchells Plain. – EWN
What kind of savage world do we live in?
Where three-year olds are being raped and murdered. By the people we trust in our homes! By people we call friends!
Where has the humanity gone?
I am so angry. I am angry more now than ever because now, as a mother, I can understand the depths of love that only a parent feels for a child. Our children should not die before we do. There’s nothing natural about a child being murdered after being brutally raped. Our kids are dying and I feel so helpless. I don’t know what we as regular citizens can do.
#MenAreTrash
At first, I didn’t get the whole men are trash movement. I tend to prefer positive reinforcement and didn’t see the value in this. As a woman, I thought well not all men but that’s a lot like arguing #AllLivesMatter because although they do, that’s NOT the point. The point is that women live in constant fear of MEN. We are not afraid of ALL men because some are our dads, our brothers, our sons. We are afraid of ALL men we don’t know when walking down a quiet road, when being harassed as we walk down the street, when we don’t smile enough…
We are afraid when we wear short skirts because we might get raped and then we might get blamed for being raped because we wore a short skirt or we drank too much.
We teach our daughters to cover up, go to self-defence classes and not walk alone down a quiet street in the day or the night. Not because ALL men are trash but because we don’t know the difference between the ones that are and the ones that aren’t just by looking at them. So we say #MenAreTrash because it’s easier to protect ourselves if we know that while not ALL men are, that particular one we meet while out alone might be.
Men are trash because it’s MEN who are killing and raping our children. Men are trash because while some may very well be great fathers, great husbands, great bosses and friends… there are others who are raping and murdering our children.
I am outraged. I truly am.
This is NOT okay and we shouldn’t be okay with this. We should all be angry. We should talk about it and be disgusted because #MenAreTrash yes, but our children are bearing the consequences of their actions.
OUR CHILDREN are being raped and being murdered and I can’t sleep at night because my mommy heart is broken. Our kids are dying – but what can WE do??
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
I wrote about this just yesterday asking the same question. And my response is raise outlet kids to be better. Nothing Kelsey’s will make a difference. It starts and ends with us.
Excuse the typos. “Raise our kids” & “Nothing else” .. stupid autocorrect!?
I agree with you. That is exactly what we should be doing! Thanks for the comment.
Reading your closing quote….breaks my heart. I think I’ve actually cut myself off. I don’t read the articles…I can’t bear it anymore. I can’t think of that poor child’s last few minutes of life…being so scared and so alone. I’m sick of living like this…my kids can’t be kids. They can’t just go on play dates, because I have to worry that their friend’s fathers are rapists or murderers. This is no way to live!
Simone, for the last while, I’ve been like this too. I don’t listen to the news anymore. I try and avoid any real issues… because I’m so exhausted by feeling helpless. It feels like there’s not enough that can be done but like Karin has commented, it’s up to us to teach our own children to be better. To do better. It’s on us to change the future. xoxo