Tuesday next week is Valentine’s Day, when humans and particularly couples tend to declare their love for one another. It’s a fairly innocent annual celebration, but does not change the fact that relatively many relational issues seem to occur in St. Maarten.
Police are still forced to deal with a lot of incidents of domestic abuse or even violence, when they could be spending their valuable time catching criminals. To be sure, it sometimes involves serious offences with dire consequences, but the main cause is often people simply being unable to get along for whatever reason.
There is usually no real winner in these situations, but mostly losers not just among those concerned but also others indirectly affected, such as offspring, family members, relatives, friends, etc. If only those involved would think a bit more about that before they acted.
Safe Haven recently reported that fewer women and children had sought shelter there last year compared to both 2015 and 2014. That can be considered good news, but does not necessarily mean the problem is smaller than before.
For one thing, the figures don’t include cases that had to be turned away due to lack of space. The centre also failed to document assistance via e-mail, chat and phone, but plans to do so in 2017 to have a better idea of the scope of its activities.
The stated goal of creating more awareness among the public, particularly in the schools, is certainly desirable in a preventive sense, as is trying to empower especially young ladies. Safe Haven has clearly demonstrated its right of existence over the years, providing an important and much-needed service to the community.
Generally speaking, the average person probably should become less demanding and possessive if they truly want to be happy in a relationship. To quote recording star Sting: “If you love someone, set them free.”
