And after they taught the children how to lie, they wonder why students and their parents are now lying to them about being asthmatic, about getting headaches in an attempt to avoid participating in sports at the school.

And after the children saw how to conspire and lie and to abandon a whole school on a conspiracy and a lie, they wonder how past students who had their education disrupted by their lies could conspire to commit one of the most heinous crimes in our nation’s history.

Too many teachers are about politics and propaganda. Not virtues and values. This was so evident during the BHS saga. Now they don’t care that the temporary school doesn’t even have a lab. They don’t care that the new school is to be built on the Basseterre aquifer.

Sadly, we as parents also have to take a lot of the blame. We cannot make babies then “can’t go with them”. We have to cry out for help if we find ourselves losing control. There is no shame in that.

We must also be grateful when well-intentioned adults tell us when they see our children engaged in questionable activities. We must not abuse them and tell them to go watch their own children.

We cannot let the television nor the internet baby-sit them. And the expensive shoes, clothes and gadgets can never be a substitute for quality time with our children. And while we must always love our children unconditionally, when they are wrong, we must let them know.

Then the church seems to have abandoned its role a long time ago. With a church on virtually every street now, the pastors seem only concerned with membership and money. Little wonder that churches now have to install burglar bars like all the other business houses.

We have all created these monsters, these vampires that now roam our streets.

We have to do some serious introspection. Some serious examination of conscience. While it sounds very noble to say that we need to come together, we cannot wait until we come together to address this mess in which we find ourselves.

We need to start with ourselves. Acknowledge our failings and try to right them. We must pray, but we cannot pray only. We must do.

We should start with any deviant member of our family. Go look for them. Start with a ”hello, how are you doing?” and see where the conversation goes. It probably won’t go too far the first time but we cannot give up.

If we do, we are doomed.