Use human rights to save us

By Garth A. Rattray

Recently, I approached a set of glass doors. Out of courtesy, I stopped, pushed and held a door open for an approaching young woman. Obviously, she was no 'lady', because she walked right by me without so much as an acknowledging glance or nod and forget about any sort of 'thank you'.

It was as if the entrance were accessed by motorised, automatic doors. I am 6 feet 1 inch tall, of dark complexion. I was wearing a white shirt and I am - to put it mildly - not exactly slim, yet it was as if I didn't even exist.

My amazement was compounded when a second young woman accompanied by a young man strolled right through the door as I held it open and they, too, behaved as if I was not there. Even if I were employed as a doorman, basic manners demand that we show each other respect, courtesy and appreciation.

Therein lies the root cause of many of our problems. Many behave as if other people are not human beings with needs, rights and feelings. Some treat others like cash cows, commodities, pawns, and even like nobodies. There is a propensity for selfishness and cold-heartedness. These traits allow many to easily display hoggish behaviour on our roads, adopt the me-first-and-everyone-else-can-go-to-hell-for-all-I-care attitude in their daily lives, delve in corrupt practices, steal, rape, maim and even murder.

By repeatedly giving in to the total lack of feelings for others, we inadvertently condemn ourselves toan unpleasant fate. And, even worse, because of our cold-heartedness, we also condemn ourselves to social degradation. Some may even proffer that a number of our crimes suggest that the perpetrators are possessed by demons or high on drugs. However, I have it on good account (from a Roman Catholic priest) that demonic possession does not manifest in murderous rage and there is no evidence linking illicit drugs to our heinous crimes.

Far too frequently we see newspaper reports with phrases like 'gory practice of beheadings', 'mutilated bodies were discovered', 'suffered the horrific fate', 'was found dead', 'a night of horror', 'chopped to death', 'shot to death', 'shot and then burnt to death', 'brutally murdered', 'raped', 'nearly decapitated', 'bloody attack', 'the murder victim was pregnant', 'grisly litany of death and mayhem', and so on and so on.

In spite of our much-vaunted 'Christian' society, I have long ago given up on expecting Jamaicans to exhibit love (which is at the very heart of Christianity) for one another, except in isolated cases. Evidently, religion has failed to stem the scourge of selfishness, cruelty and criminality (at every single stratum of society). Perhaps the concept of 'love' is too esoteric for people to embrace and practise it. But, probably things would have been worse were it not for the influence of the Church.

There are so many fractured and dysfunctional families; so many incompetent parents; so much fractiousness in society; so much acrimony; so many economic woes; so much stress and so much envy that we fail at loving one another. The least we can do is to respect the rights, freedoms and feelings of others. We also need to remember that individuals must be afforded their human rights, even when they do something wrong, because if any one of us has no rights, none of us has them.

I know that the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights has been active in promoting human rights in schools and institutions. However, we need the Government to place more emphasis on human rights and tolerance at all educational levels and through the public broadcasting systems. The Government should also organise highly publicised islandwide competitions for songs, poems and skits with human-rights themes.

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