The Right to Have Rights

Crimes rate is on the rise again, it appears, but sadly this time the crimes being committed aren’t your average burglary or purse snatching. It’s gotten a whole lot worse. It seems we don’t care much for each other these days. Tiny disagreements turn into full out raging fights which sometimes even the police have difficulty breaking up. There is certainly something different in the air. Perhaps it’s just me or is it?

Every other day the newspapers seem to mention a sad or disturbing crime where people are getting hurt and even killed, either by pure recklessness or by hatred. Hate crimes, this is something that is becoming increasingly common among us. It seems that almost everything can be turned around as a reason to start a fight. Our tempers are a bit short and we are constantly losing it. What is really going on?

If one was to try and trace these events to its source then it would be quite impossible to point a finger at any one singular event and hold it responsible. But there is one single event that stands out; one event that has lead to a lot of people being hurt and maybe even directly responsible for many other similar incidents to happen in Male. It is a day that no one in Male will ever forget as long as they live. A violent end to an event that was to bring about something good, offer a chance to make things better, a peaceful struggle asking for justice. So many innocents suffered that day, but hopefully there won’t be a repeat of the same ever again.

It was a fight for freedom, apparently because we are an oppressed people. Until that day most of us had not even realized it. And to this day we are still fighting for it and we have apparently not gotten it still either. We have all seen the websites; if we are to believe what the websites say, anything and everything bad and wrong with the society can apparently be traced to one simple thing. No matter how ridiculous the claim, it is all only one persons fault according to them.

A coconut falls from a tree and lands near the beach where the waves take it away into the lagoon. No one will ever have the pleasure of drinking its mild or eating its flesh. Whose fault is that? Yep, you got it right. There is apparently one man to blame. It hasn’t rained for a long time or the rain hasn’t stopped for a long time. Yep, it’s his fault. According to these websites the world apparently revolves around this single man. But just how simple do we have to be to believe these things?

What about the drag racing that has become so popular on the streets of Male during the night? Pedestrians and anyone else on the streets when the speed junkies take to the streets to get their fix are in danger. Obviously, it is not a concern that goes through the head of these speed freaks. Our roads are considerably small and were not meant for such speeds.

However, few people actually even bother to check their speed. And these racers aren’t limited to cars alone; some bicyclists and motorcyclists aren’t too concerned about checking their speed. In their haste to get a rush out of being reckless, they do not bother to look at what kind of damage they are leaving behind.

You could be walking on the pavement and still be in danger of being hit. The traffic does not move only on the road, just as the pedestrians who leave the tiny pavements sometimes the traffic leaves the crowded roads to slide by other traffic smoothly by coming on to the pavement as well.

When a traffic jam happens, people start honking their horns instantly and incessantly as if this would spur the traffic on. What about the people in the houses nearby who are bothered by the constant honking? Not their problem, right?

Recently, I came upon a crowd of people gathered in front of a shop. As a curious Maldivian, I went over to see what the fuss was all about as there was no way for the traffic to move on anyway. There was a woman screaming at a boy not more than 17 or 18 with her daughter in tow. Turns out that the boy was abusing the little girl and the mom found out from the daughter.

However, while in the middle of this screaming, right before the police came around, a group of people started beating the skinny boy. Granted, he had committed a disgusting crime, one for which he should be punished according to the law, but why take it into your own hands to punish him? To me it seemed as if the people who beat up the kid were more interested in getting a violent rush from beating a helpless boy than they were in seeking justice.

Violence or defiance is never the answer and violence only breeds and brings about more violence. Laws and regulations are there to help people; we need to understand this concept. We are being repeatedly told by the media that we are people with rights. That we deserve to have our rights protected. And that we should fight for our rights.

All well and good, but what about the others? Don’t they have rights too? While fighting for our rights should we trample on the rights of everyone else?