Evil exists in Duncan
The first thing I noticed in jail was the smell. It was artificial and industrial, with a hint of chlorine. It did not mask the smell of sweat or of fear for that matter. When you entered the Youth Detention Centre, the first door you came to was guarded by a camera. You stood there and soon a buzzer sounded and the door clicked open. Two steps in and you spoke to the guards and then they opened a second door for you to enter the jail. The two doors were designed so that both doors could never be open at the same time. This was to prevent an inmate from bolting out the doors and running for freedom. Frankly, I fought off fear as I was escorted through the residential area into the tiny school building where I was to teach Computer Studies and, of all things, Psychology.
It was quite an experience to teach children who had murdered, or raped, or lit fires that killed innocent people asleep in their beds. It was a surreal to teach students one afternoon, and then go home for the evening and read about their crimes on the front pages of the Province newspaper.
One of the most frightening student/inmates I encountered taught me something. This student was very young looking and baby faced. I doubt he shaved. Yet this child was evil, at least as I define evil. I learned this when staff was called to a meeting to be briefed on a tragedy. A student had stolen a calculator and taken it apart in the school workshop. He had removed the plastic cover and honed that cover into a razor-sharp knife. He later sold that knife to a student who intended to slash his own wrists. Apparently, a few contraband cigarettes were enough currency to pay for a human life.
So, what does this have to do with our Duncan? There are evil people in this town. They intentionally supply illegal and incredibly addictive opiates to first time users. They sell drugs to the addicted who in turn do the unthinkable to feed their habit. Drug suppliers remind me of the young man in jail who supplied the knife to a suicidal child.
We must do everything we can to protect our youth from such evil. We must empower our police. We must protect those folks who want help from having to pass through temptation every time they want to enter refuge like Warmland.
It is said that evil triumphs when good people say nothing.
Rick Wunderlich
Crofton