EDITOR, The Tribune.

From the moment I got the news that my former colleague and close friend had been murdered, life has not been the same.

How can it be, when terror is seemingly on our doorstep, on the street and around every corner?

The last few weeks, I have thought constantly about the last time I saw my friend, the last conversation we had, the toll on her two sons. The fact that she has been taken away by a senseless act of violence.

The fact that these senseless acts of violence are all too frequent and commonplace in our community.

I work abroad, and this year is the first time that I have not promoted my home to friends as a vacation destination. I have advised them to skip Nassau altogether and venture to a Family Island, or Cuba because crime is out of control.  

The first time this malaise of crime affected me, my car was stolen from behind a security gate in a work parking lot. It proved that nowhere is safe in Nassau.

It was the day that I realised it was US and them. They didn’t want me to have the car I chose.

They didn’t care about my sacrifice and how I had worked to afford it.

They do not care about our safety. They terrorise us with robbery, rape and murder, watering the streets with our blood. It is so easy to say that all these murderous acts are bad people killing other bad people. Then a Mother, Educator and God-fearing woman is taken away and you realise that it could happen to anyone, and that you could be next.    

It seems that terror has taken over this world. Every time we turn on the news, there is some new act of terror that grips our attention and causes us to think twice about travelling to a certain place or going about our daily routine.

I have thought a great deal about who “they” are. They are the other side of the coin, the darkness to my light. They are a part of me and they are at war with me. They want what is not theirs. They want it and have no means to create it or earn it and so they take it. They took my friend Joyelle’s life and she can never be replaced.

I cannot let them win. I cannot allow another bright light to be extinguished. I will not become defeated and give up on my birthplace.

It is us and them. “They” are a part of us and we have to change everything if we want the tragedy to end. I am willing to take a stand. Are you?

NATALYIA WALLACE

Nassau,

November 27, 2015.