The lead story in last Friday's STAR was very disturbing, to say the least.

The fact that someone's life can be snuffed out for the right price and perhaps the wrong reason is enough to send chills up the spine of even the bravest person. What was also very intriguing about this story was the openness and sense of nonchalance with which the men spoke about the crimes they committed.

It is rather obvious that to these men, killing a person is no harder than killing an ant or an annoying bee. This thought is rather scary. If we are to go by this story, it seems that no life is worth more than $150,000. To make matters worse, if you are a 'nobody', as defined by these men, your life can end as soon as a $60,000 cheque is handed over.

This is not the first time we have heard about hit men and their ways, but hearing the gory and graphic details from the horse's mouth puts it all into a quite chilling perspective. To see that these men have attached monetary value to the lives of people is really an eye-opener and it makes us realise that things are even worse than we thought.

But what is also disturbing is the fact that there is a market for hit men - there are people who use their services. That people think there is no other way to solve their problems is very disturbing and this is an issue that we need to look deeper into. Killing each other is not the solution.