Families and criminals: A tale of our two cities

A FAMILY leaves home on Saturday night to take the excited children to sing Christmas carols.

A FAMILY leaves home on Saturday night to take the excited children to sing Christmas carols.

They're surprised by the chill in the summer evening air and return home to quickly pick up a jumper, figuring they're early enough that the detour won't make them late.

When they pull into their driveway, a blood-chilling scene confronts them: Four thieves who have just ransacked their home - and one of them will later point a shotgun at the grandfather. The five children in the car watch on.

There could not be two more jarring images: The first of wholesome family living and the second of dangerous criminality; of people who work hard and create an upstanding life and of others who steal and threaten and recklessly put lives in danger.

That we can all see ourselves in this family's situation, quickly dashing home to pick up a forgotten jumper to find thieves in action, makes it all the more confronting.

And this just before Christmas, at a time when we're supposed to be thinking of extending kindness and generosity to our fellow man.

It's a grim reminder of our city's underbelly and the presence of a group of people who break laws and shun social propriety.

Thank goodness for the work of police for whom such shock and naivete is an impossible indulgence.

Originally published as Families and criminals: A tale of our two cities