I was watching a video on Facebook this week about a young lad from Sierra Leone who is somewhat of a technical wiz. He makes things using reverse engineering from electronic scrap he finds in garbage cans in his impoverished community in that West African nation.

It got me thinking about how many children in Jamaica's inner-city communities could have similar callings, but because they are where they are, they will never get a chance to develop into adults who can contribute to Jamaican society. Many of these teenagers are instead toting pistols and high-powered machine guns because it represents a way out for them. Out of what, I am really not sure. Out of life, perhaps?

There are too many idle young people in Jamaica today. You see them at bus stops, at traffic lights scaring women and old folk, you see them living in the sewers. They have no direction and hence no shot at a decent life.

Where are their parents? My mother and I were having a conversation this week about how irresponsible some of these parents are, leaving their children out in the cold and depending on the rest of the world to mind them. There are many, too many stories out there about girls who have nothing, no education, some no ambition and hence no life, and they end up getting pregnant for every Dick, Tom and Harry, who are never around by the time their children are born. Yet, these girls keep going back for more.

Yes, the men are worthless, but how long will it take some of these girls to realise that having unprotected sex significantly increases the risk of them getting pregnant? Chances are, the man who gets them pregnant is nowhere to be found by the time the baby comes to term. How many more examples do they need before they shut up shop and only open up when protection is guaranteed?

Just yesterday, I am in the plaza picking up something. As I am pulling up into a parking space, this young girl starts knocking on my window. I wind the window down to hear that she is begging me $50 or $100 to get something to eat for her baby. I told her I don't have cash on me, which was true, and she gave me a look like I was the one who impregnated her and refuses to mind the child, if there was a child. I didn't see one.

If there is a child, its destiny seems already sealed because, when you looked into this girl's eyes there was no hope, only anguish. I couldn't help her and I am not sure I wanted to. I like to believe I am a compassionate person, but sometimes these things are ridiculous now. We have brains and we should use them. Children are expensive. They require love, food, and care if they are to make it in this world.

In some instances, they grow up and find they have been blessed with skills like the 15-year-old youngster in Sierra Leone. Unfortunately, not many of them will be discovered before they give up on life and are cut down by bullets from a rival gang member or members of the security forces.

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