Issue 2, april 2019
MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
NEWS & POLITICS | pg3
PHOTO: PEXELS
NO MORE VICTIMHOOD
had a community that loved and cared for me. Yes, I had a relationship with my father (which is vital; knowing NEWS & POLITICS | FEATURE | Knife crime statistics are who he is isn’t the same). But, I rising, but why? don’t see these things as particularly AARON FENTON-HEWITT praiseworthy or something that I Knife crime in London has reached right and wrong. Putting the religious should be disproportionally thankful epic proportions, and not in a good beliefs aside for a moment, there were for. I expect my parents to instil values way. Is it too late to suggest that it’s good, wholesome values that were in me. I expect to have a relationship an epidemic? Because it just might be. instilled into me from an early age. with my father. These are not things According to the BBC, knife crime It’s something that I’ll carry to my is at its highest level since 1946 in grave. It’s part of me now; I couldn’t England and Wales. There have been ignore those values if I tried. Have we really 245 homicides by knives or sharp Sometimes it’s hard for me to set the bar so instruments as of March 2018. One in remember that not everyone has had it low for ourselves four victims were men aged 18-24, and as good as I have, but then I think, have that we consider good parenting and envi' 25% of victims were black. Not that I actually had it that good? The values ronments as the ex' race should have anything to do with are one thing, but the environment I ception, not the rule? it, but I do fear for my community. was brought up in wasn’t as good as As a young man of Caribbean it should be. Single parent household. heritage, the stats show that I am Merciless bullying during secondary disproportionally more likely to be school. I did have a relationship with that should be so rare that people killed by stabbing than any other my father though, which is important should be jealous of me for having community. This is worrying, for me to mention. them. and my Afro-Caribbean brethren. I question all of these things because Have we really set the bar so low Being brought up in a conservative I refuse to set the bar so low for for ourselves that we consider good Christian household, it was pretty myself. Yes, I grew up in church. Yes, parenting and environments as the straightforward for me when it came to I had values instilled into me. Yes, I
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exception, and not the rule? Because if we have, we’re in deep trouble. Ultimately, in my opinion, it’s all to do with your mindset. As much as I agree with the fact that other factors can have an effect on a person, there is always a choice. Everybody has a choice. Everybody is in control of their own destiny. You do not have to allow yourself to become a victim of your circumstances. The reason why we admire people like Oprah Winfrey because, despite adversity and all the odds being stacked against them, they persevered, hung on and made something of themselves. That’s how we grow as people. Success cannot be enjoyed without failure. At some point in our lives, we will fail. We will make mistakes. We will stumble. We will fall. It’s inevitable. Our true strength is in our determination to pick ourselves up, and keep going. If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.
