There is so much violence happening in the streets of Metro Manila one would think a war is going on. Reports of criminality are so numerous that it has almost become a way of life for us.

 

The metropolis and other parts of the country are in a state of anarchy but no one is calling attention to it.

 

Maybe because we are faced with so many problems that we have failed to see the bigger reality around us.

 

And the lawlessness intrudes even inside one’s home.

 

Every day, newspapers, television and radio programs report case after case of crime from petty incidents of phone or bag snatching to brutal murders.

 

In the last two or three weeks I recall reading the following cases:

 

1. Assassins mercilessly gunned down a former mayor of a municipality in the South in broad daylight at Naia 3. Other fatalities were the mayor’s wife and nephew, and an innocent two-year-old child hit by stray bullets.

 

Investigators suspect hired killers did it for a fee, as if they were asked to deliver some groceries. This is pure business for those hired killers.

 

Women and small children are not safe from their cold-blooded brutality.

 

2. A man was arrested for sawing off his two-year-old son’s head and later going after the nine-year-old brother who escaped. The father is reportedly a drug addict.

 

3. A man was killed in an argument following a very minor car accident. The alleged assailant simply happened to have a gun inside his vehicle.

 

4. A woman cashier of a store was shot in the face for resisting two motorcycle-riding criminals who grabbed her bag that contained payroll money.  She was about to deposit the cash in a nearby bank.

 

5. Stray bullets fired at random by unthinking individuals to celebrate the New Year killed mostly children right in their homes.

 

Clear indication

 

I have not met any man or woman who has not been a victim of cell-phone snatching at one time or another. These incidents happened mostly inside buses, the MRT and crowded places. No one is safe anymore in the streets of Manila.

 

What do these incidents indicate about the state of health of our people’s minds?

 

We pay much attention to physical health and wellness. There are so many physical health and fitness clinics sprouting all over the country.

 

So many forms of yoga classes are being opened but I have not heard or read of even just one center devoted to mental health training or mental fitness.

 

We have neglected the mind in our attempt to take care of our bodies.

 

How can one be healthy in body if the mind or spirit is sick? Aren’t all these crimes happening daily in our midst a clear indication of the unhealthy state of people’s minds?

 

These crimes definitely show a mind that is not normal but perverted. It has been said that there are more mentally sick and insane people out in the streets than inside mental institutions. And this seems to be an accurate observation.

 

Who is doing anything to improve the mental health of our society? Who is studying how we can help educate and develop better control of our murderous impulses?

 

For minor issues like losing a card game or not liking how another sings karaoke, people have been killed by their supposed friends and companions. Where does the impulse to kill for slight reasons come from?

 

What I call the Rolito Go Syndrome is exemplified by the case of the businessman of the same name who fatally shot a De La Salle student during a traffic encounter.

 

Newspapers later dubbed such insane behavior “road rage.” Despite Go’s conviction, similar cases are still happening.

 

Impressions

 

We can gauge or rate the mental health or sickness of a society by the number and nature of crimes committed over a period of time. Is the incidence growing, steady, or declining?

 

I don’t have the statistics to prove this, but my impression is that more and more of our people are exhibiting a form of mental illness that needs to be addressed at once before it becomes completely out of control. Or is it already?

 

For every crime that is reported in the newspapers or on radio, there are probably at least 10 other unreported ones.

 

If you think you are safe in your private subdivision or even your own home, you don’t know what’s really happening around you! It’s scary!

 

 

NOTE:

 

Attend the next Soul mates, Karma and Reincarnation seminar on Jan. 18, Saturday, from 1-7 p.m. Seminar fee is P3,500, and the next Basic ESP and Intuition Development seminar on Jan. 25-26, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., at Rm. 308 Prince Plaza 1, Legaspi St., Greenbelt, Makati City. For reservation, call 8107245 or 0908-3537885. E-mail [email protected]