What the F***?

By Karen

As a sixteen year old student, I often think about how screwed up this world is; we are facing countless wars, unstoppable genocides, extreme poverty, uncontrollable climate change, increasing debt, and no value on human life. You might yawn and believe that those are problems outside your reach, but each of those issues hits home – hits Peel region. I do not believe that one person can change the world, but I believe when we are thinking internationally, we should be acting locally.

So let us take a look at Brampton; while doing research for this blog I came across many disturbing stories about gangs, drugs, human trafficking, kidnapping, stabbing and break and enters. Just go to goggle and type in keyword like ‘violence’ and ‘crime’ in Brampton. I’m sure the same issues would surface for Mississauga. As troubled as I am from my research, I want to focus on violent stabbings involving youth because they are becoming a concern in our community. Despite all that is being done by the government and different organizations, is anything changing?

Peel region has been my home since birth; nevertheless, little by little, we are losing our rich multicultural community to fear and anguish. The fastest growing region in Canada has also become home for violence – the community is suffering. For a long time, there was the comforting feeling that this violence would never reach my door step; I had a loud and unexpected awakening – suddenly my door step was crowded.

Back in November, Peel region witnessed the stabbing death of Rajiv Dharamdial. The following day I was present at his high school, Sandalwood Heights, for a field hockey game; as we played against the Sandalwood team, I could see the emotions of his death pouring onto the field. I remember one girl shouting “Let’s win this for him!”

The day after Rajiv’s mother buried her son, Peel Regional police arrested a 15 year old boy. Many watching the news might have been relieved that a killer was off the streets. I, on the other hand, was horrified because this 15 year old boy had been charged with first degree murder for the killing of Rajiv. First degree murder meaning this young man PLANNED to murder Rajiv. This was not an innocent teenage fight that resulted with an unplanned ending; this is a 15 year old boy who decided that Rajiv no longer deserved to live. Within the past year, there have been two cases (this one and the one involving Stefanie Rengel) in which a minor has been charged with first degree murder – a first in Canadian history. I am still in shock that a boy, younger than myself, felt that there was something that justified his reasoning to take a knife and stab another individual seven times. I am at complete disgust that there is a possibility that I have walked the same street as someone that does not understand the beauty of life or the sinful act of watching the light leave Rajiv’s eyes. May Rajiv rest in peace, while my thoughts go out to his family.

Another incident in Peel region that hit even closer to home was the stabbing of a 15 year old boy at a Sikh Temple in Mississauga. The suspect in the case was merely 13 years old and was charged with aggravated assault. I am a realist, so I understand that yes once in a while violent acts do occur amongst youth, BUT you do not take a knife from the kitchen of a religious temple with the aim to kill someone over a small dispute. I mean what could these two boys possibly have been arguing about that led one of them to raise a kitchen knife and stab the other? I have been in the same temple and in all likelihood stood in the same part of the kitchen where this event took place; it seems shocking that we have reached this point where horrible crimes, such as this, are being committed in the most holiest of places. Although, no one was seriously injured, this situation has shaken the community; violence has no boundaries, not even religious boundaries.

As a high school student, I am well aware of the dangers that all students face – trespassers are becoming an increasing concern. In January 2008, a 16 year old trespasser was stabbed by a student attending the school. The trespasser who suffered kidney damage was found with wounds on his arms, upper body, neck and stomach. The fight started from an argument over a hat – a mere hat can land someone in the hospital. This is what it has come to now; we have become this materialistic, we are willing to kill or seriously injure for things that have no value in the end.

If this is the generation of the future, I do not see a very bright future. Gandhi once said “An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Either we will learn to love or we will learn how to live our lives without sight because “no man is an island.” However, before we reach the extremes of my conclusion, there must be steps that can be taken to ensure our community does not follow this dark and difficult path. My solution is usually education; I am an individual who believes that through objective teaching we can solve the world problems.

Nonetheless, my solution for youth violence in our community changed as I continued to do further research about violence in Peel region. I discovered that the news stories that shocked me the most were not reported by main stream media, they were from newspaper articles that are very rarely read by my generation. We really do try to fool ourselves into believing we are a one-man island, however, I am confident that if more youth in Peel knew – and I mean in full detail knew – about some of the violence that occurs in your own backyard by our own generation, more action would be taken against such violence.

If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.

Join the discussion on this blog post at http://www.connect2endviolence.ca/GetInvolved/tabid/56/EntryId/27/WHAT-THE-F.aspx.