Let's shield our children from harm

Two quite unrelated pieces of information caught my attention and gripped my heart this past week. One was from mainstream media, the other from the usual forwards on WhatsApp. The social media item was a graphic piece entitled, “Letter from a death row inmate,” that appeared like a newspaper cutting, complete with a photograph. In it, the man awaiting execution, wrote out his last wish in a letter that he gave to the prison guard, to be handed over to his mother.

He wrote, “Mother, if there was more justice in this world, we would be both executed and not just me. You’re as guilty as I am for the life I led.” He then went ahead to explain how his mother had failed to discipline him whenever he engaged in unbecoming behaviour. She even colluded with him on several occasions when he brought home stolen property. The result: he was now a malformed man, awaiting execution for his delinquent lifestyle.