Recently at one of our primary schools, a teacher took on the task of telling her students a story about Cow and Brer Anancy. The gist of it is that Brer Anancy wanted to kill Cow to make a family meal. So one day he saw him feeding on chew sticks and gave him a piece of cane. Cow liked the cane and Anancy told him that there was more at his house.

On his arrival at Anancy's home, he was tied to a tree in the heat of the day and told to fan his tail as hard as he could.

Brer Anancy was seeking probably cause to get rid of Cow and so he invited his children to observe him, knowing fully well that they would be scared. Furthermore, he drew the attention of the community to Cow's antics, and the effect it was having on his family. Having established this 'fact', he declared that Cow must be got rid of, and so he took his cutlass to chop off his head.

But alas, as Brer Anancy lowered the cutlass, Cow turned his head and it cut the rope and he galloped away a free animal!

Cow must die

According to the teacher, the main purpose of the exercise was for the students to supply an ending of their choice for the story. Their choices were vocalised before embarking on their written assignments. This resulted in about 70 per cent of the students saying that Cow must die. This group included both boys and girls.

Some of the reasons given for their decisions were that Cow was too 'boasty', he was too show off, he was too foolish and too greedy.

But the teacher made another observation: It was not the first time that her students had shown a tendency towards violence in their speech and writing. They have been told stories on other occasions, and whenever they were given the choice to provide alternative endings, they would invariably include violent incidents.

Devaluation of human life

The above story, innocent though it seems, could be symptomatic of a larger problem. Gone are the days it seems when children, especially girls would cringe at the thought of something or even someone getting killed. Our murder rate is astronomical, and we have become fodder for all kinds of mental illness disorders including borderline personality disorder (BPD), as outlined on the pages of TheSunday Gleaner of February 8.

The students in question are from an inner-city area where a lot of violence abounds. So they are probably conditioned to display a certain kind of behaviour and a certain form of thinking. But how can we change this mindset? How can we save this and other generations to come?

Our planners and indeed all of us need to do something and do it fast. We can start by giving our children small puppies or cats as pets. Let them learn to cuddle and care. And parents, by all means, give them the necessary love and attention at home. Encourage them to listen to uplifting music and to read wholesome books like the Holy Bible.

The time has come to give the story a happy ending. It is time for Cow, Brer Anancy and their families to be high-fiving and partying together.