Are our lives as cheap as they appear? I think many will share my opinion concerning the way our complaints are dealt with by those whose job it is to address them. In many cases, no one bothers to take action to investigate, let alone follow up, a case. How many of us have regretted going to the police to report a car theft or a burglary?
I am sure those who have will recall the bitter and frustrating experience of being sent from one office to another just to find out if any action has been taken or any progress has been made. We unhappy citizens are not surprised to see our documents and paperwork buried under piles of other papers or in drawers stuffed full of ancient — and unresolved — complaints. More likely, we find that the case has simply been closed for the simple reason that a lazy officer or civil servant did not bother to do his job or simply failed to take any action.
Returning to the question, my answer is: Yes, our lives are cheap as evidenced from the way our grievances and complaints are treated. Officials dissociate themselves from any responsibility by transferring papers to someone else’s desk. Papers and documents move steadily from one desk to another and in the end, no action is taken and nothing is done. We citizens have only God to turn to and it seems we will have to wait until the Day of Judgment to see Divine Justice done.
This is not all. Failure to hold the incompetent and negligent responsible and to punish them may turn the country into one of aggressors and victims. The victims are those obliged to wait indefinitely for their grievances to be addressed or they may forfeit their right but in both cases, the aggressor is immune from punishment. The increase in cases involving theft and burglary has only one explanation — complaints filed with the police are not treated seriously. People are told to thank God that the problem is only a stolen car or missing money and that they themselves escaped unharmed. Must we wait until lives are lost before those entrusted with serving the public actually perform a service?
Had there been any seriousness in addressing people’s problems, we wouldn’t be experiencing many of the distortions that are now slowly creeping into our society. Had there been any seriousness in going after the delinquent and errant elements and in treating every complaint seriously instead of neglecting it or ignoring it, we might have been able to ward off many of our present social ills and prevent them from degenerating into something very dangerous. Our lives are cheap, it seems, because a complaint filed by any of us is treated as an irritating piece of paper which disturbs the official on whose desk it lands.
