The way I see Liberia

The other day I called an old friend back home in Monrovia for a chat, when she answered the call, she broke down in tears and cried on the phone for about seven minutes straight until I was able to calm her down to find out what the problem was. It took a long time before she gained her equanimity to explain to me, in her still shocked state and trembling voice, that three armed men broke into her home that she shares with her two children, Bachir, twenty-one and Martus, fourteen, a week before my call, and the outcome of the episode has made their lives a living nightmare.

The robbers ordered the mother and children to bring out all of their personal valuables including cell phones and jewels and hand the items over to them. The thieves grabbed the valuables and jewels from the frightened family members and proceeded to search the house for more booties and other household items. The frightened trio still in their sleeping gears, which amounted to scarcely nothing, was also ordered by the burglars to sit on the floor against the wall of their living room for strict scrutiny while they ransacked the house searching for other goodies.

Just before the thieves took off, one of them walked over to the mother and made an attempt to massage her face. Just as the robber’s hand was about to make contact with her face, her son Bachir leaped from his sitting position and butted the robber on his head. That brave and courageous, yet fool hearted action and the consequence of head against head, left a big gash on Bachir’s forehead that resulted him receiving one dozen and one stitches on his forehead that will now portray an obvious scar for life.

His action I believe was simply a heroic gesture to safe his mother’s honor and one of deep frustration. There is a sense of deep frustration from a victim of a robbery when an insignificant rogue indiscriminately violates your personal space and orders you around because he is armed and robs you of your dignity and your personal possessions. Long gone those days when young men and significant others stood by and watched their women folks being violated by those gun toting hooligans during the past ugly years of the country. There is now a change of the minds of the young men to protect their female folks’ honor. Change in mindset because during the various wars in Liberia, young men stood by and watched their mothers and sisters being raped, disfigured and murdered. Don’t get me wrong, robberies of this nature take place in Liberia daily and maybe some female folks are protected and some are not being protected by their sons, their siblings or their significant others. This story brought tears to my eyes not only because of the unfortunate family’s catastrophe but also for the country Liberia and the disgust for the career move that many young men have engaged in and the distress such actions cause the public in general.

From where I sit, I can only shake my head in frustration because situations such as arm robbery and other ugly vices of the many idle young men will scare away the most needed investors into the country. Without private investors, the lives of the Liberian people and yea, the country as a whole, will not improve nor progress and the cry of the masses shall continue.