This got me thinking, a few years ago when I still lived in Johannesburg, in an affluent suburb called Northcliff, I remember always feeling under siege while there, we where shocked by what appeared to be the random shooting of a 16 year old school girl in her drive way. The neighbourhood was shocked and there was a lot of interest, and a close eye was kept on the investigation by the media, but our understaffed, underpaid, underfunded and uneducated police force could simply not solve the case. The devastated family then turned to a *retired detective Piet Beyleveld who in a few months had found that the house next door was being used as a meth lab and that the young girl was shot as a warning, but the hit man got the wrong address.
I see you are asking what the hell have those stories got to do with anything? so I will ask you a question, you behind your walls and locks, how well do you know your neighbour? Do you even know your neighbour? The problem is that we have been conned into believing that we should protect ourselves, take care of yourself, but the fact of the matter is that if you looked out for your neighbour and he looked out for you, you're protected, and soon the neighbourhood is taking care of itself. I hear the neigh Sayer's now "High walls make for good neighbours" that's what you are made to believe, when the truth is, that if something were to happen to you and you need immediate help, who's closest to you? who can get to you soonest?
We self police due to the serious lack of a police force that can be trusted, so why can't we extend a hand to our neighbours, and draw the community closer, instead of isolated walled homes as refuges, that we cower behind.
I'm going to say hello to mine today, cause I'm done with pushing a car up and down when my neighbour had jumper cables.
*Retired due to pressure buy the ANC government for the Police to be Black Empowered.