Wednesday 31 August 2011

THE THIN LINE






 




 
I believe there's a thin line between all of life's elements and relationships.  Peace and war, love and hate, fear and respect.  The six degrees of separation.  The list could go on and on at nauseum but what I'm going to look at more closely is that thin line between fear and respect.  Do you want to be remembered because you had the meanest look in the hood and nobody wanted to step to you even to say "Hi" or do you want to be remembered for being that guy people could look up and say "I want to be like that."

Now, after an experience I had recently and what I see happening around me, I ask myself, are we living in a society where institutions that are meant to uphold what is seen as 'right' are feared or respected.  A few weeks ago, me and some friends of mine were arrested by those great men in blue who love to indulge in some nookie during office hours.  We were driven around the township aimlessly looking for more criminals but their manhunt only turned up a rape suspect.  So out of a great trek around the township all they could show for their efforts were three innocent passengers and a rape suspect.  Now the shocking part was what met us at the Vosman Police station. All you've read about the police in the papers, seen on TV, it's all true!  The only thing I didn't see was a homemade porno set, SIGH! As we entered the station's holding cells, our senses were greeted by blood spattered walls & pungent smell of rusty sweat. I saw 1st hand with these brown eyes of mine police brutality.  Information is beaten out of suspects, the kind of beatings you see in Kung Fu movies.  In the police station there is no thing as 'innocent until proven guilty.' The police are a law unto themselves.  Luckily we were let out in the wee hours of Saturday morning with no record of us being there.  So no criminal record, phew. 
What we must do as the citizens we are is report any rot we see in institutions meant to uphold the constitution of SA.   Institutions that spring to mind range from the SAPS to trade unions to government.  I see newspaper stories about police corruption, the recent sex-tape, police brutality and I ask myself do I respect the police or do I fear them?  The answer that comes to me is that I fear them and I shouldn't.  I should be able to trust them with my life but I don't.  I fear that my life could be endangered in dealing with them.  I don't want to say 'Hi' to a policeman, I want to get out of their path as soon as possible.  And Mr Policeman doesn't want to respect me, he's ready to give me the whole nine yards, ass whipping and all.  It's a sad situation.  Most of socities ills could be put down to there not being enough respect but more of fear.  It's all about a chain reaction of opposites.  I will do that because I don't respect you and you will do the opposite because you fear me.  It shouldn't work like that.  There is a lot facing our country at the moment but if we start with the little things, it could go a long way in solving our problems.
@iAREmatete







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