Dear Editor,
The aftermath of the Lindsay Clancy case with some women in the US now
insisting that they have the right to kill their children, reminded me of an incident
which Os Guinness recounts in his book “Time for Truth.” Professor Kay Haugaard
(California) had taught Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” for over 2 decades. At first,
the societal response to the story of human sacrifice was that of outrage.
However, with the passage of time the response in her class to the story changed.
One night Professor Haugaard encountered no moral response to the story. One
student who was passionate about saving whales and the state of rain forests had
no concern at all! Another student said, “if it’s” a part of a person’s culture, we
are taught not to judge…”. Professor Haugaard said she gave up as no one in the
class would take a stand against human sacrifice.
This account by Professor Haugaard illustrates the moral slippage which has
occurred in many parts of the world. According to Dr. Guinness the notion of evil
has slid from “being ‘sin’ defined theologically, to being ‘crime’ defined legally, to
being ‘sickness’ defined only in psychological categories”. Atrocities such as the
killing of one’s own children are no longer soundly condemned, as such atrocities
according to the modern mind now fall within shades of grey. It should concern
us all that certain behaviours and activities have now moved from grey to green
with some now draped in the language of rights.
For us Jamaicans, having grown numb by daily killings, let us not forget that the
taking of a life is a horrible act. The taking of the life of one’s own child can only
be classified as being horror of horrors.
I am
S Richards
