The reported incident of a nineteen year old mother abandoning her baby in an old animal shelter off Spanish Road in Kingston has cut to the very core of our emotions. My initial response is to simply condemn the mother as being an uncaring, inhumane person behaving the way that not even animals do. Perhaps Nicolette deserves some of the harsh comments that we will all throw at her. She has scarred the life of an innocent two year old. How can someone ignore the weeping of a two year old crying desperately, Mommy, Mommy?
The report goes on to say that this child has been experiencing abuse for two year. The citizens intervened but the authorities seem to have made an error of judgment in placing the child in the grandmother’s care apparently without consulting with Children’s Services so that follow up work could be done. This two year old was let down by her family and by the state. This nineteen year old mother must be punished; she must be made to know in no uncertain terms that in any society no matter what level we have reached this behaviour is unacceptable and cannot be condoned. I am not sure what is the appropriate punishment for this young lady, especially when you think that while her baby was crying away in the abandoned animal pen she was getting dressed to go to “Sting”. This girl should be ‘stung’for her irresponsible and heartless behaviour.
This nineteen year old mother needs punishment. That’s my first response. But something deep down tells me that she needs pastoral help more than anything else. There is a hint in the report that she was troubled on the night that she was getting dressed to go to Sting. Could it be that this girl still has a conscience, still has a heart, still cares? Many may find this hard to believe but in the worst of us there is at least a sprinkling of humanity. What can we do to rescue this girl from herself? This girl got pregnant when she was a little over sixteen years old. Obviously she was ill prepared for the responsibility of raising a child especially a child that is either physically or mentally challenged. Note well that I am not in any way excusing this young woman I am simply trying to understand the other side of her story.
A large proportion of teenage girls who get pregnant are from a disadvantaged or dysfunctional socio-economic background. Many were themselves born to teenage mothers who generally occupy underpaid and undervalued work positions. These young women can nevertheless be very good mothers if they receive proper support. Is it possible for this young woman to be transformed into a good mother? She needs our help. Nicholette needs lessons in how to be a good parent, she needs to be taught responsibility, she needs tough love.
My focus has been on this mother but I believe that we have to raise questions about the father. Where is he in all of this? Has he been a supportive father, present for his family or is he being distracted by another family that he has to pay attention to elsewhere? Women don’t get pregnant by themselves, there is a man involved. I believe that sometimes our young women are taken to the limit. After they are used by some of us sex hungry, porn fed men they are then left on their own with the herculean task of raising children.
Nicholette went to the end of the road but I tell you that they are many teenage parents who have not tied up their children and left them to die but have left them at the mercy of house fires or have loosed their hands and left them to the mercy of the streets.
As a nation we certainly need to pay more attention to family. All our attempts to fix the crime problem will end in futility if we continue to give scant regard to the teaching and practicing of sound family values. Our nation is being fed with too much filth. We rank number ten in the world in the list of countries that most explore porn sites on the internet. Many of our entertainers spit out filth on the stage and on the airwaves. Our diet is wrong and no surprise we have become so sick.
The story of this nineteen year old mother should be another wake up call to this nation. We cannot continue like this. I lament the fact that so many of us as pastors and churchgoers continue to be so irrelevant to this nation. This is a wake up call for me. Nicholette abandoned her baby and we hold her responsible but many of us have abandoned our call to carry out the Jesus mission, “ to preach the gospel to the poor; to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (St Luke 4:18)
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