Monday 29 July 2013

Has Society Failed Sammy Yatim?

The Toronto Police with all their faults and shortcomings are merely a reflection of the society that produced them. I cannot tell how many times I have cringed in horror while hearing or reading peoples comments saying "He didn't drop the knife so he deserved what he got." In some ways the police are at least understandable. After all you can expect thugs to behave like thugs. The real horror is the society that hired the thugs in the first place. What of the ordinary person who simply doesn't want to be reminded that people like Edmund Yu, Sammy Yatim and a host of others even exist? What of the suburbanite who is shocked to find panhandlers on the streets of downtown Toronto?

I have said that the Toronto Police are lacking in compassion. Let me broaden that a little bit... this entire society is lacking in compassion. This society is narcissistic, selfish, hedonistic and with a sense of entitlement far in excess of that which is a human right possessed by all of us. It thinks nothing of killing its most vulnerable members for others' comfort and convenience. It builds luxury condominiums while warehousing the mentally ill in places like the Waverly Hotel, Seaton House and a host of seedy little rooming houses. It shuts down beds for the chronically mentally ill while catering to patients more suitable for pharmacological testing and likely to contribute to a positive success rate.

The Toronto Police with all their brutality and thuggery are a symptom, not the disease. They are merely acting as proxies for every member of our society who has looked at his brother and wished he would just go away. They are the enforcers we send in to ensure that we are never troubled by the poor, the disabled, the mentally ill or anyone else who might disturb us. We spend our time doing things that make us feel good and indulge ourselves in all variety of things from new age spirituality to the most conservative traditions. We are so absorbed in seeing to our own comfort and caring for our spiritual and physical needs that we fail to look down and notice our foot on the neck of our brother.

Cain, where is Abel your brother?

CNA on Time's 'Me Me Me Generation'

2 comments:

Vox Cantoris said...

Thoughtful!; every word the truth.

Unknown said...

The cop was justified in what he was doing. Sammy was a thug and deserved every single bullet that entered his body. When you endanger the lives of other people in the streetcar, you pretty much erased any sort of sympathy the public will have for you. The people screaming "Justice for Sammy" are only a small percentage. Take an anonymous survey asking people whether the cop was justified in his actions, and then we'll talk. The kid was carrying a knife for Christ's sake. Who knows how many people he may have robbed or would have in the near future.