I was on my way home from church today when I heard the following story on the mid-day news on RJR - one of the most popular and credible radio stations in my country. And my blood "ran cold". A 18 year boy was reported to have stabbed his 14 year old brother and then called the police who rushed the injured child to the hospital. But to no avail as he was dead. The reported reason for the dispute? Who should control the remote control! Many questions screamed out for answers. Where were the parents? What could have taken place in that home to produce such a poisoned and socially toxic environment that murder and mayhem could rise up in a youg man's heart so quickly? What manner of country is this?

The news reporter likened the episode to the biblical story of Cain and Abel, a kind of metaphor which could very well be employed to describe other similar events sweeping across the entire nation as " bloodshed follows bloodshed". And so a nation mourns yet again. But we weep, and continue to weep for so many other things. A nation's name being sullied by further revelations from the members of opposition this week with the " Brady affair" , in which the PNP has suggested the Prime Minister himself could be guilty of being economical with the truth in respect of the extradition affair involving Christopher " dudus Coke. We weep for a country mired in debt and deep in ecomomic recession with many facing extremely hard times, losing their jobs and being confronted with rising prices. We weep for our nation's children and how they are being treated at home, the degrading lyrics to which they are exposed on public transportation, and the recent horror stories of kidnappings. We weep and yearn for a time when good manners, and sound morals were the oder of the day and the kind of " ragamuffin" outrageous behaviour which is the norm today, was once an aberration.

In the midst of this the Psalm appointed for the bible readings in our church today, and I heard it again in a song on my way home, trumpeted the the promise that :

They who sow in tears shall reap in songs of joy