Dorie Blackwood | The incalculable price of crime

Regrettably, Jamaica registered record-breaking figures for murders in 2017, with over 1,600 lives snuffed out in violent activities. Last November, National Security Minister Robert Montague noted that the cost of crime to the country amounted to some $68 billion annually.

As staggering as those figures may be, quite likely they are understated. Sadly, Jamaica is paying far more for crime than can ever be reasonably estimated.

Having paid the ultimate price, the primary victims are gone, forever. All the talents, potential contribution, and direct and indirect personal value to family and friends are lost. They leave behind a litany of silent secondary victims who grieve for years the senseless slaughter and pain of the irreversible loss.

Death by natural cause is particularly painful for loved ones to endure; the brutal, inexplicable horror of a violent killing intensifies that pain many times over. The psychological hurt cuts deep, as orphans, widows, and parents relive the dread of fathers, spouses, and sons gunned down in the senseless and ruthless disregard for life splashed unabated across the headlines every day. This is compounded by the frustration and utter distress of knowing that perpetrators are not likely to be brought to justice.

NO ONE ESCAPES THE WANTON LOSS OF LIFE

The wanton loss of life invades every aspect of life - family, community, business, government, and church. No one escapes. The society lives in fear, conscious of present danger. This very likely has a negative impact on productivity. Overtime and late-night work require provision for extra security. The sadness many women experience (because 90 per cent of murder victims are men) borders on depression; substance abuse may deaden the hurt for a while, giving rise to yet another costly problem for the country. Children who dodge bullets night after night soon learn to fight fire with fire, and so violence is perpetuated from one generation to the next. There is the frustration of trying to teach positive problem-solving skills, as young men know that the man with the weapon gets the respect and takes the loot.

Many of us still remember a gentle and safe Jamaica when we could walk the streets anywhere at any time without fear or anxiety. Then people talked about the one murder case for the entire year. We were horrified at one single life lost to violence.

Now we wake every morning to the news that five or six people were killed, and that's "normal". We have taught ourselves to become numb, to cease to feel intensely for others. We have deliberately sedated our emotions, as a coping strategy. Our sensibilities are no longer revolted because that's life in Jamdown.

The psychologists can confirm whether we are a nation in anguish and in need of healing. We have learned too well to disguise suffering; we put the best foot forward, smile, and repress anxiety, hate, revulsion, and anger. Those emotions have little expressions beyond the interment of lost relatives. But every so often, those destructive repressed emotions burst through at the most unlikely and embarrassing times, and we display hostility and downright aggression towards spouses, children, and even strangers. And so bitterness begets bitterness and we lose the sweetness and trust we once had as a nation. Just observe the rage and abuse often meted out to women and children at home, and to motorists and pedestrians on the road.

ACTIVELY FACILITATE THE PROCESS OF NATIONAL HEALING

While we work at solutions to stem the incidence of crime (and we must do so collectively), we may want to concurrently actively facilitate the process of national healing. Each family, school, church, business place, hospital, social club, and association needs to create a safe space in which members can vocalise their pain, horror, revulsion, and dismay. This space should encourage and enable the release of tears to wash the soul, to cleanse the inner being, and bring us back to being human again; help us to be a people that feel, and care, and interact in affirmative ways, knowing that we share comparable emotional experiences.

This recommendation is similar to support group therapy that helps participants reduce the tension and reclaim inner peace. Trained therapists could volunteer an hour each month, to lead groups through the redemptive process and teach families to re-engage and talk through their sorrow. Mothers should reorient our sons to an understanding that big strong men do cry, and need to talk and mourn as part of a positive and cathartic process.

Psychologist D.M.E.P. Seligman's article 'Positive Psychology, Positive Prevention and Positive Therapy' extols the value of "narration", a strategy of telling our stories to help us make sense of what seems otherwise chaotic. The psychologist notes that narration assists in distilling and discovering a trajectory in our lives which leads us to a new sense of perspective and purpose. (p.7).

We are truly a resilient people. With dogged determination we can convert sadness and despondency to camaraderie and optimism, as we continue to move forward to achieve the greatness for which we are destined.

- Dorie Blackwood, MBA, is a Chartered Life Underwriter, Fellow Life Management Institute and a learning and development practitioner. Email: dblacck101@gmail.com.