Stray bullets, broken dreams

The New Yearis supposed to be a time of jubilation, but for the family of the late Stephanie Nicole Ella, the seven-year-old kid who, after three days of being coma in the hospital, finally succumbed Thursday after an ordeal with a stray bullet embedded in her head few moments after they welcomed 2013, this will be a New Year of mourning.

The same goes to the family of RangeloNimer, 5, who was said to be accidentally shot by an improvised gun, a night leading to New Year’s eve in Mandaluyong City.

For the families of both very young victims, this New Year will be remembered in a quite rare and painful way. There is no telling the magnitude of pain there is in their parents’ hearts seeing their kids lifeless in their coffins at these very discomfited moments.

For Rangelo’s case, at least the perpetrator has already been identified. He has surrendered to the authorities and whether or not a formal complaint will be lodged against the suspect, one thing is certain— that there is light to child’s case and that justice is guaranteed.

But such is not the case of Nicole’s death. Until now, nobody has shown up to admit the crime. While the PNP Thursday night has at least identified one person who reportedly fired a gun during those hours, it’s not yet clear whether this was the person who actually killed Nicole. And I don’t want to sound hopeless but I seriously don’t think it will be that easy for our authorities to get the man sacked considering the circumstances surrounding the case.

That’s why up until now, the only thing Nicole’s mother and father could do is shed tears while begging the suspect to come out once and for all for justice’s sake.

And for the country, the most that we can do out of this is to learn. Now this is the sort of experience that gives us that one extra moment to review our gun regulations during holidays and our ordinary citizens’ attitudes during these days.

As a youth, I am not scared about guns mushrooming in the country like hell because I know that if used for good intentions, guns can save lives. But strict regulations must be made in order to ascertain that this purpose is not defeated. If guns become the very reason why merrymaking develops into something not merry anymore, then what’s the point of having them around?

Another equally important call goes to our ordinary citizens. People just have to develop an attitude of vigilance at all times. They have to report cases of indiscriminate firing to the powers that be,regardless of whether a stray bullet has actually killed or has not. Our reports would help our authorities in ways we ourselves may never know.

For now, our prayers go to the families of both kids, more especially to the family of Nicole. As reports have told, she’s been a consistent achiever in class; her mother showed a bunch of medals to prove this. Nicole’s photos hours prior to her untimely death also saw her glowing with a smile only the innocent can make, a testament to her being active child who could’ve become someone our society needs in the future.

Rangelo and Nicole both had little dreams. And who knows, their little dreams could be the answer to our bigger woes. Rangelo could have become a doctor in a distant barrio in Mindanao; Nicole could have become a teacher to some indigenous tribe. But it’s quite sad to know that the callous elements of our society have just stolen these dreams away from these kids in the most imperfect timing imaginable.

As a fellow youth, one dream is for a New Year to come where kids can jump and wish to grow, and dream and realize dreams, and play and laugh and smile, and ...not forced to die.