While the results of a poll on crime published in one of our Sunday papers last weekend come as no surprise, they remain most disturbing.

The survey indicates that 94 per cent of the population is dissatisfied with the criminal justice system and that only 23 per cent will be willing to give evidence in a case of kidnapping or murder. Very few – 5 per cent – believe that the National Security Minister is doing a good job. All in all it painted a picture of fear, disillusionment and non-expectancy.

In this unhappy state of affairs and into the limelight steps 13-year-old Choc’late Allen, the unlikely CEO of Caribbean Vizion. Much has been said about the problem of crime in the country, many have attempted to offer a way out of the dark hole in which we find ourselves. And it is clear that there are no overnight solutions to the problem.

Choc’late with exceptional courage has called on citizens to take responsibility for their actions, to deal a blow to crime by taking a stand against it, as individuals and in groups.

She had hoped that if the country set about being 100 per cent crime-free in the first week of this year it might set the tone for the rest of the year. This aspect of her initiative has not gone according to plan.

She has stirred interest, however, not simply because of what she has had to say or her five-day fast at the National Library. She has captured the imagination because of the image she holds up before us.

Open to the Good News

Choc’late represents the good that is within us and throws up a reflection that is pleasing to look at when so much that we see and hear suggests barrenness and ugliness. It is as if through her God says to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, I am here still present among you though many may express feelings of despondency. She reminds us that we have been created in God’s image.

Choc’late represents yet another way in which the Lord who has created us out of love finds a means to remind us that he loves us. Through her too, we as a people we have been able to return God’s gaze.

“The spirit of the Lord,” says Jesus, quoting the prophet Isaiah in this Sunday’s Gospel, “has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour” (Luke 4: 18).

The challenge for each follower of Christ is to remain open to the Good News that the Lord still speaks, to find ways of bringing freedom to those who do not know true freedom and to offer, with humility, new ways of seeing to those who have lost hope.

After reading from the scroll of Isaiah and with the eyes of those in the synagogue fixed on him, Jesus assured his hearers that the text was being fulfilled even as they listened.

It is the face of Christ that reveals to us just who we are and the good of which we are capable. It is on him that we must fix our gaze.

Choc’late is a pertinent reminder that the text of Isaiah is being fulfilled today.