I was appalled and heartbroken to read in The Gleaner that the 13-year-old girl Kemelia Paul who had intervened in a fight in her home and, as a result, had been severely injured so that she had to be hospitalised, has died!

A child seeking to stop the violence being played out before her among adults in her home has lost her life! What sort of nation have we become where more and more incidents of domestic violence are being reported? There seems to be no end to this barbaric behaviour among family members.

The lack of self-control and the inability of people to settle disputes without physical violence in our nation is alarming. The emotion that is most predominant among us as a people is anger. It is displayed at every level of our society. Our leaders are crass in their arguments with each other. Our people have no example of how to manage their emotions and use self-control and words to settle disputes.