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- Why Stop the
Crime?
- By Barrington Brennen, 2001
We are all perturbed about the crime level in our country. We
have many questions for which we want answers. Why is the crime escalating? Why
does there seem to be no solution to this national scourge? Why does it seem as
though nobody cares? Is there really a solution to the dilemma? It is my belief
that there are solutions to the problem. But I am not sure that we are truly
ready as a nation to go beyond the questioning and start the doing. Could we
reduce the murder rate from 60 each year to 10, or even zero? I believe we can.
The painful truth is that we all are in someway contributing to the increasing
crime level in our country. We ignore the cries for help from hurting people. We
turn our heads and close our eyes when we know something is wrong. Maybe we
should let the crime "roll on" since so many are "benefiting"
from it. Why stop crime when it is putting money in our pockets and food on our
tables? The following is an absurd poem I published in 2001 to help us to
take a painful look at this problem of crime in our country. At the end of the
poem I present what I believe is a fundamental reason why we do not have the
power to stop the crime. Read it with an open mind from beginning to the end.
Your email response:
info@soencouragement.org
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- "Why Stop the Crime?
- By Barrington H. Brennen
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- Why stop the crime when aforetime our parents were sold to
please the greed of some?
- Why stop the crime when shipwreck looting blessed our islands
homes?
- Why stop the crime when bootlegging enriched stores and banks?
- Why stop the crime when drug smuggling bought pools and tanks?
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- Why stop the crime when slapping a wife proves the status of
manhood?
- Why stop the crime when neglecting a child brings no shame to
the neighborhood?
- Why stop the crime when getting pregnant in school strengthens
the status of youth?
- Why stop the crime when aborting a baby is proof of womanhood?
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- Why think of values, companionship, and family?
- These are not necessary in a land where people are lonely?
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- Why stop the crime when having sex with an infant is proof of
a father’s authority?
- Why stop the crime when a father getting his daughter pregnant
is proof of his virility?
- Why stop the crime when raping a girl is the joke in the
schools corridors?
- Why stop the crime when molesting a boy will never reach the
courtroom doors?
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- Why stop the crime when cheating on your spouse is encouraged
by people everywhere?
- Why stop the crime when lying to your wife is not a shameful
thought to bear?
- Why stop the crime when disowning your husband is not a
terrible idea?
- Why stop the crime when having sex with the boss is not a
shameful way to gain tenure?
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- Why think of integrity, honesty and trust?
- These are not necessary in our land of lust.
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- Why stop the crime when lying to Customs and Immigration will
only save money?
- Why stop the crime when people in authority smuggle in their
own machinery?
- Why stop the crime when island economies are developed by the
sale of illegal stuff?
- Why stop the crime when you only get respect when you are
acting ruff?
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- Why stop the crime when pastors steal church money and get
away with it?
- Why stop the crime when church members thrive on shady
business?
- Why stop the crime when it is a blessing not to give but to
appeal?
- Why stop the crime when it encourages the one who steals?
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- Why think of integrity, honesty and trust?
- These are not necessary in our land of lust?
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- Why stop the crime when men claim scriptural authority for
treating women with disdain?
- Why stop the crime when Christian churches have said that
women must suffer greater pain?
- Why stop the crime when men get more power through the
submission of women?
- Why stop the crime when men insist that male leadership is
always better for making a living?
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- Why stop the crime when it was not my child that random
bullets hit?
- Why stop the crime when the scream of a neighbors’ fright
sounds like a movie clip?
- Why stop the crime when stolen cars and appliances are not the
responsibility of the culprits.
- Why stop the crime when many who live in ivory towers seem not
to care a bit?
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- What profits would we gain by stopping the crime when we have
gained so much from it all the time?
- Why think of pain, loneliness, and fear?
- Why think of the tragedy our children bear?
- Why think of life loss if life isn’t much?
- Why think of dysfunctional families if family isn’t much?
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- Could it be that we were poisoned through generation in time
- By the greed and lust of power hungry minds?
- What is the antidote to the poison of passivity and greed?
- It must be a mental metamorphosis to take the lead.
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- If we continue to be poised by the greed for power,
- Our nation will die and we would not even realize it’s a
goner;
- Because a crime isn’t a crime to the unchanged mind,
- Unless there is a re-creation of our lives and minds.
- Then, and only then, will we find the power to stop the crime.
Your email response/opinion:
info@soencouragement.org
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