Over the last week I read of the tragic death of a four-year-old child in a shopping centre car park. The heartbreak of the child’s parents must be unimaginable. I cannot begin to fathom their feelings, save to say may they look to Providence for solace.
While thinking about this, I thought the greatest way to honour the life of this four-year-old child is probably to begin to revisit our attitudes towards our fellow human beings.
So mine is not a racially-based observation. Although I would not be reluctant to call out racists if I thought that this was a racially motivated factor. There may be an element of that but I believe there is rather a class based disdain for pedestrians because even black drivers have no respect for black pedestrians.
In fact, this leads me to wonder whether there is a sick sense of superiority that vehicle owners hold in relation to pedestrians, particularly those who are old-aged pensioners, unemployed and poor.
I have seen older members of our community trying to run across pedestrian crossings with obvious pain and strain to their aged joints to avoid motorists who just will not afford them their right of way or have the courtesy to stop.
There is simply no road regulation compliance or courtesy.
It has to be said that this sense of superiority and devil may care attitude towards pedestrians may be an ironic confluence of attitudes from those who hold racial prejudice on the one hand and others who derive a sense of arrogance because of their nouveau riche status – the new money brigade.
This bizarre interconnectedness between the residue of racial prejudice and the attitudes of newly monied blacks is contributing heavily to the destruction of ubuntu as we knew it.
When this tendency emerges, we lose the sense of common humanity which is a cornerstone for harmonious societies. And, as in all countries when a society loses its soul, it is the poor who are the direct victims.
And if the elite see the poor as a nuisance, then running over them is “an accident”. It is defined thus because it is less burdensome on their conscience.
The victim is also blamed because they crossed at the wrong place, they were drunk on the road, the driver was rushing to an appointment and the victim came from nowhere.
Sometimes this may be valid, but how often is it not simply because a motorist failed to slow down when the pedestrian was in plain sight?
Sometimes, when a poor person is carelessly killed the rich transgressor will offer to pay for the funeral, not out of compassion but to make the issue go away because the poor are, after all, a commodity, not human beings.
The problem is that paying for the funeral does not remotely begin to cover the costs of the loss, particularly when the dead are breadwinners or the sole supporters of extended families and active members of their communities.
But it seems that when you mow a poor or vulnerable person down you can buy yourself out of guilt and moral obligation.
I wish to plead with everyone who owns a car or cars and who feels no compulsion about breaking road regulations and terrorising fellow human beings, please think of these things:
l Every person who we put in danger of death or who we actually kill with our pricey “weapons of mass destruction” is a valuable person. Their family may depend on their diligence, or their wisdom in the case of elders. They may be a young person walking around hungry and looking for a job, possibly absent minded because once more their effort to find a job has failed.
l Every owner of a vehicle must understand that when they drive – particularly in the streets of any business district or residential area (in the city or the village) – they are behind the wheel of heavy machinery easily capable of killing others. While on the other hand many pedestrians have never even been behind the wheel of a car and struggle to measure its speed and distance. There is therefore a greater responsibility on drivers to exercise patience, duty and care so that we can all use the roads safely.
l Many people who drive vehicles in this city have the pedestrians to thank for their relative wealth. At a rational and logical level it is very strange for those whose mission is to pursue financial wealth will literally disrespect and kill their clients.
l The manner in which we treat other human beings is a cornerstone of family upbringing. Reflecting on time-honoured lessons and values could go a long way towards reversing the inhumane behaviour we see on our roads.
l Finally, those of us who think we are comfortable and safe with our wealth will do well to remember that things can change in a day. The Arab Spring was ignited by a young person who decided he had taken enough denigration from the elite. The rest is history.
It is in our enlightened self-interest to treat each other as human beings deserving of respect at all times. I believe this is precisely what is needed today. Many of our actions are the products of a paucity of thought, of ideological bankruptcy and a general movement of our values towards the self instead of the primacy of humanity and society being in harmony with itself.
Monde Tabata is from East London
End carnage on our roads by respecting pedestrians
While thinking about this, I thought the greatest way to honour the life of this four-year-old child is probably to begin to revisit our attitudes towards our fellow human beings.
So mine is not a racially-based observation. Although I would not be reluctant to call out racists if I thought that this was a racially motivated factor. There may be an element of that but I believe there is rather a class based disdain for pedestrians because even black drivers have no respect for black pedestrians.
In fact, this leads me to wonder whether there is a sick sense of superiority that vehicle owners hold in relation to pedestrians, particularly those who are old-aged pensioners, unemployed and poor.
I have seen older members of our community trying to run across pedestrian crossings with obvious pain and strain to their aged joints to avoid motorists who just will not afford them their right of way or have the courtesy to stop.
There is simply no road regulation compliance or courtesy.
It has to be said that this sense of superiority and devil may care attitude towards pedestrians may be an ironic confluence of attitudes from those who hold racial prejudice on the one hand and others who derive a sense of arrogance because of their nouveau riche status – the new money brigade.
This bizarre interconnectedness between the residue of racial prejudice and the attitudes of newly monied blacks is contributing heavily to the destruction of ubuntu as we knew it.
When this tendency emerges, we lose the sense of common humanity which is a cornerstone for harmonious societies. And, as in all countries when a society loses its soul, it is the poor who are the direct victims.
And if the elite see the poor as a nuisance, then running over them is “an accident”. It is defined thus because it is less burdensome on their conscience.
The victim is also blamed because they crossed at the wrong place, they were drunk on the road, the driver was rushing to an appointment and the victim came from nowhere.
Sometimes this may be valid, but how often is it not simply because a motorist failed to slow down when the pedestrian was in plain sight?
Sometimes, when a poor person is carelessly killed the rich transgressor will offer to pay for the funeral, not out of compassion but to make the issue go away because the poor are, after all, a commodity, not human beings.
The problem is that paying for the funeral does not remotely begin to cover the costs of the loss, particularly when the dead are breadwinners or the sole supporters of extended families and active members of their communities.
But it seems that when you mow a poor or vulnerable person down you can buy yourself out of guilt and moral obligation.
I wish to plead with everyone who owns a car or cars and who feels no compulsion about breaking road regulations and terrorising fellow human beings, please think of these things:
l Every person who we put in danger of death or who we actually kill with our pricey “weapons of mass destruction” is a valuable person. Their family may depend on their diligence, or their wisdom in the case of elders. They may be a young person walking around hungry and looking for a job, possibly absent minded because once more their effort to find a job has failed.
l Every owner of a vehicle must understand that when they drive – particularly in the streets of any business district or residential area (in the city or the village) – they are behind the wheel of heavy machinery easily capable of killing others. While on the other hand many pedestrians have never even been behind the wheel of a car and struggle to measure its speed and distance. There is therefore a greater responsibility on drivers to exercise patience, duty and care so that we can all use the roads safely.
l Many people who drive vehicles in this city have the pedestrians to thank for their relative wealth. At a rational and logical level it is very strange for those whose mission is to pursue financial wealth will literally disrespect and kill their clients.
l The manner in which we treat other human beings is a cornerstone of family upbringing. Reflecting on time-honoured lessons and values could go a long way towards reversing the inhumane behaviour we see on our roads.
l Finally, those of us who think we are comfortable and safe with our wealth will do well to remember that things can change in a day. The Arab Spring was ignited by a young person who decided he had taken enough denigration from the elite. The rest is history.
It is in our enlightened self-interest to treat each other as human beings deserving of respect at all times. I believe this is precisely what is needed today. Many of our actions are the products of a paucity of thought, of ideological bankruptcy and a general movement of our values towards the self instead of the primacy of humanity and society being in harmony with itself.
Monde Tabata is from East London
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