My sincere condolences go out to the respective families that have just recently and tragically lost their sons. Life is precious and tragedy is blind to colour.

What binds us as a community and as a nation is that these are young Bermudian men robbed of life — their potential evaporated in an instant. The life that they could have given to another generation; we will never know what they or their children’s children could have produced for themselves, for their families and for their country.

Whether it be senseless crime or road fatality, it affects or infects all of us. These all-too-often occurrences have dulled our senses and caused us to be bemused at best. Has it curbed the enthusiasm of our legislators to do anything more meaningful, purposeful and systemic? Or is it left to the few to challenge the issue?

There is not enough being offered to change the fate and trajectory of our young men. Our children need more options. More choices offer more opportunities. More opportunities bring more value to life.

I recently read an article where Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, stated: “If we’re going to see youngsters have opportunities in this country to be whatever you want and to be able to go wherever you want on this Earth and still give back to your country, then we need a whole of country, a whole of nation approach.” (Barbados Today, November 28, 2023)

I can’t imagine the grief and pain that the families are experiencing, irrespective of their sons’ eventual demise. Grief, pain and bereavement are a necessary trilogy that is seasonal. When will this season end?

• Dwight Jackson has declared as an independent candidate for Smith’s West (Constituency 9) in the next General Election