Time is an awkward construct. Awkward in that a fixed amount of time does not mean the same to everyone who experiences an event. If you promise a toddler in May that he will go to the beach in the summer, he will be waiting at the door the next morning with his swim trunks. An 80-year-old measures time in the ages of her children, a golden wedding anniversary or the years she believes she has left on this earth. A teenager wishes that the calendar pages would more rapidly turn to mark his 21st birthday. Yet, reason tells us that a day is always 24 hours, a year lasts 365 days and the average life span is 79.8 years.
For Cameron Anderson, 17, Markise Jackson, 19, Taylor Hayes, 7, Marcus Brown, 18, Montrell Mouzon,14, Des’Mon Anderson, 18, Michael Handy,17, Damien Claridy, 18, Corey Mosely, 17, Markell Hendricks, 16, Lamont Green, 17, and Mekhi Anderson, 17, time has stopped (“Baltimore schools remember 12 slain students,” May 29). Dong. No more beach days, not another birthday and, definitely, they fell way short of an average length of their lives. When they woke up on the day their mothers will never forget, it was unlikely they thought it would be their last chance to see a sunrise. Dong. Wake up, Baltimore City Council. Wake up, Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young. Wake up, Baltimore business community. Wake up, Commissioner Michael Harrison. The clock points to now.
Yes, I and tens of thousands of my fellow Baltimoreans, are in toddler mode. We demand the tomorrow of no more gun shots, no more knifings, no more mothers sobbing today. We know the power of the ballot box. Those 12 kids who were victims of your failed attempts and faulty promises can no longer shout at you for help. Dong. We must on their behalf. We need no new study to tell us what we have known for decades. Don’t insult us with any more community forums where you promise action and continue to do the ineffective.
Spend what you must. Marshall all the brains in the great universities of our city to give you solutions and enact them. Call upon the long time and emerging businesses to fund proven anti-violence programs. There is no more time to waste. Get into the minds of young people and ask them what they need and then assign them to a City Council member to write the legislation to make it happen ASAP.
Either do what you know you must or shut down your office and go home. Those dozen kids needed you to act so they could have a tomorrow. Listen to their voices. It may already be too late. Dong, dong, dong.
Ellen Marshall, Baltimore