Garth Rattray | From slingshot to gunshot

I vividly recall making slingshots as a boy. You needed a firm piece of wood from a branch that formed a symmetrical Y. It was smooth and shaped so that the handle was long and comfortable to grasp. Then both arms of the Y were shaved and smoothed off also. You needed a strip of bicycle inner tube to fashion the propulsion mechanism. The cradle of the slingshot was made from a piece of leather and anchored firmly on to the middle of the inner tube. The inner tube was fastened to the ends of the Y by more inner tube or strips of leather.

You had to choose the appropriately sized missile (usually a stone). Aiming accurately required a lot of practice.The slightest deviation would send the stone way off target. Some made the propulsion system for their slingshots out of a bunch of strong elastic bands. However, they were never able to generate nearly as much power as the ones made from bicycle inner tubes.

It took a fair amount of effort to pull the bicycle tubing back enough to generate the power needed to propel the missile far and hard enough to strike your intended target. First, you needed to practise shooting at inanimate objects like leaves, and sticks, and old tin cans, and so on. Then, we targeted the unfortunate lizards, especially the feisty ones that stuck out their ‘tongues’ at us. We were too young to realise that the lizards were expanding their dewlaps from beneath their necks. Male lizards use that fold of brightly coloured skin to attract females, to discourage rivals, and sometimes to ward off predators.

REGRET

Looking back now, I regret killing those innocent lizards. I spent more time trying to hit makeshift targets. However, I had friends who killed small birds to eat or for sport. It was forbidden to use the slingshot to shoot another person. Even as little children, we knew that we were not to injure others. And as we grew older, we became much more cognisant of the dangers inherent in using a slingshot.

Fast-forward to several years ago, late one night at the corner of Spanish Town Road and Maxfield Avenue. A work crew consisting of a driver, a front-seat passenger and several fellows in the back of a pick-up was heading up Maxfield Avenue after a long stint on a project. As soon as the driver negotiated the corner, he saw a small group of teenage boys carrying assault rifles. He was trying to understand why they were lurking about when he heard one of them say, “Come mek we tess out di gun dem”. The driver floored the pick-up and every man got flat as the report of rifle fire rang out behind them. Thank God those kids were poor shots.

How did we get from having slingshots to having pistols and high-calibre assault rifles in the hands of young men? How did we get from [only] shooting inanimate objects, lizards, and small birds to killing obviously pregnant women, infants, toddlers, children, the physically and mentally challenged, young people, men, women, the elderly, the innocent, and even the helpless and infirm?

POWER-HUNGRY

Certainly, this horrible transition did not take place overnight. It was a slow, insidious, creeping evil that was initiated by a bunch of power-hungry individuals who beguiled the desperate and disenfranchised into believing that their survival depended on aligning themselves with a particular political persuasion and in fighting for their benefactors.

Thus began the loss of respect for one another and the loss of respect for human life. It became a live-and-let-die situation with the underprivileged being unwittingly used as fodder and pawns in the insatiable lust for power by some of the so-called representatives of the people. Token efforts were made to improve the lot of the needy. However, they could not be empowered to seek out their own unique paths in life lest they become enlightened, abandoned their roles as ‘community soldiers’, and embarked on their personal journeys towards self-actualisation instead.

They were inculcated to distrust ‘the other side’ and to conquer or be conquered. If their benefactors were dethroned, the benefits of the spoils of victory would go to other communities … and they would be left to ‘eat grass’ for an indeterminate number of years.

Opposing sides were spun the same yarn – they needed guns to protect themselves against the other side. And so the gun became the instrument of suffering and death and the symbol of power. Those who were deficient in education and skills were introduced to the gun and used to further the goals of others. And when one benefactor withered away, another rose from among them to rule the roost.

Mistreated, misguided, misused, and misunderstood inner-city communities are largely ignored and abandoned by the rest of society. Naturally, they developed their own [survivalist] subculture in a toxic environment of poverty, poor parenting, poor leadership, poor amenities, and aggression, where lives are of little value and misunderstandings, disputes, disagreements, and various problems are solved with violence and murder.

Now, the inevitable has occurred. That subculture has leached everywhere. Slingshots have become guns, stones have become bullets, and we have become no more than lizards and small birds of our society’s failings.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com