Disturbing manifestations of a deeper crisis
"ALL HAPPY families are alike but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion." Thus begins Leo Tolstoy's profound 19th century novel "Anna Karenin". These lines must have come unbidden to the minds of people who were shocked by last week's killing rampage at Buxton. That the Herod extended family was a dysfunctional and unhappy one is gleaned from the comments of surviving family members and villagers. And one wonders why a healthy young man could not have seen an alternative and sane existence away from his maternal relations, and why he was driven to such an apocalyptic rage in the face of an obvious alternative. For those behaviour theorists who bemoan the breakdown of the extended family as being responsible for much of the waywardness of youths, the Buxton massacre will remain a tragic reminder of the seething tensions and recriminations that can build up when three and four generations of a family are closeted in too small a space and are forced to compete for too few resources. What is doubly disturbing at this time is the pattern of violent behaviour that so often ends in death and mayhem. A young investigative reporter in a local weekly has documented no less that 15 deaths in a four-week period of family violence. He lists seven murders and eight cases of apparent suicide occurring roughly between the third week in June and Wednesday, July 7 - the day of the Buxton horror. Earlier this year, Ms Karen De Souza, feminist and political activist held a week-long fast and vigil outside St Andrew's Kirk to protest the wave of killings sweeping this country. Around that time, there had been approximately two dozen instances of violent death in the country. One particularly shocking incident involved the callous dumping of a child's body on the pavement opposite La Penitence Municipal Market one night. The autopsy disclosed that the child had been physically abused and that there were old wounds to his head and back. Just last month, television newscasts carried a story of the severed limb of a baby found in the bushes of southern Georgetown. Why would a supposedly loving parent physically abuse a child to the point of serious injury and sometimes death? What forces would drive a man to carry out the methodical execution of his mother, his grandmother, his aunt, his sister's children and two of his own children, set fire to his home and then walk calmly into the burning house to die? So far, people have attributed the man's actions to the fact that he was authorised to have a gun in his possession 24 hours a day. Others feel that modern-day stress coupled with the tension in the family drove him over the edge. A respected Buxtonian has offered the theory of "plenty licks" in the man's childhood, which punishment kindled in him the desire to administer licks, but this time with a gun. Others have lamented the fact that just too many family members were forced to occupy a relatively small dwelling. There are also stories of acts of provocation against the man's young wife. Several persons felt that the security functionary was a very disturbed man in spite of his controlled exterior. Each of these suggestions may have played a small part in driving this man to murder, mayhem and suicide. The questions that must trouble most people today, are how many other family disputes are about to explode in fury and violent death, and what can thinking individuals do to defuse these dangerous tensions and create a less hostile environment in which persons can learn to respect one another?
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