A horrendous attack leads to the death of one child and leaves another critically wounded. It is a crime that unites an entire community. Six year old Prince Joshua (P.J.) Avitto and seven year old Mikayla Capers were attacked in an elevator in the building they lived in, in the elevator, on their way to Mikayla’s house for icees.   In a crime that cannot be described as anything but senseless a grown man attacked the children and stabbed each of them, killing young P.J.

Acts of violence are not uncommon in East New York, Brooklyn where the two children lived, a fact I can attest to having grown up in the very same neighborhood. Indeed I have family members who still live in the projects right next to the Boulevard Houses where this sick crime occurred and I carry my own battle scars from my days in ENY. While violent crimes are not uncommon, this crime against innocents has united an entire neighborhood. This was not supposed to happen and when something like this does happen it is as if it happened to all of us.

And in fact when you get down to the essence it does indeed happen to all of us in a way. I’ve often related existence to the makeup of the human body. Just as our bodies are made up of many cells so too is existence, the universe, comprised of each of us. We are the cells that make up the universe, us and every piece of matter within it. Taken to another level just as we feel pain shooting to our shoulder when we bang an elbow so too do we feel the pain of a family when they suffer a tragedy such as this.

We are all connected and part of a greater whole. Whether you believe in creationism, the scientific evidence of the big bang or nearly any other religion (going as far back as ancient Egypt where the first god sprung from the primordial waters called Nun and brought into existence from his own being those who followed him), the concept that we were all one at the beginning is generally accepted. It is ingrained in our beings and so every view of creation reflects this fact in its own terms. Imagine if we consciously acted on this thought! One person could no sooner cause harm to another than they could their own selves because they would know that was exactly what they were doing! Not unless they were sick of course.

While we are all connected, just as the cells in our bodies are, that doesn’t mean that the evil amongst us should not be dealt with. No instead I propose that men like the one who attacked those innocent children are like a cancer in the universal body, a sickness, and just like cancer that attacks our bodies these evil people need to be removed or the universal body will die. Whether they be given the death penalty, a life of incarceration or, if the justice system fails, what some refer to as street justice … either way men the likes of Daniel St. Hubert (the man presently accused of the crime), if proven guilty, need to be removed from society. I am not normally a proponent of the death penalty but there are exceptions to every rule. (Mental facilities may also be a means to remove and possibly cure this human cancer if he is proven to be mentally unstable which with an open mind I would have to believe could be a possibility. The mind struggles to find any other way a human could commit such a crime.).

But back to the family and the community. It was uplifting to see the entire community come together, including the police force, to get this menace off of our streets as soon as possible. When a cause is just and the community and those who are supposed to protect that community come together there is nothing that can get in the way of justice.

R.I.P. little P.J. and young Mikayla we pray for your recovery!