Another Sunday. Another young life cut short.
According to Antigua News Room, 29-year-old Leyandrew Hubbard was killed after a gunman opened fire on a group playing cards beneath a roadside shed in Potters. A second man remains hospitalised, fighting to recover from his injuries.
The police will investigate. Politicians will offer condolences. Friends will share photographs and broken-heart emojis across social media. Then, as so often happens, life will move on — for everyone except those left behind.
The following letter, submitted by a concerned citizen, is addressed to the young men who will return to that same shed tomorrow. Who will pull up chairs, shuffle cards, light cigarettes, pass drinks, and laugh as though nothing has changed.
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Many young men have grown so attached to "the block" that they no longer recognise it as a trap. They wake with nowhere to be, no goals to pursue, and no urgency to build a better future. The street corner becomes their office. The gambling table becomes their workplace. The conversation never changes — and neither do their lives.
Then one day, gunfire interrupts the routine.
Some believe they are safe because they are "not involved." But bullets do not stop to ask who is innocent. Violence does not check whether you came only to lime for an hour or whether you were simply passing by.
Wrong place. Wrong time. That is all it takes.
Every funeral delivers the same painful reminder: life is precious, but it is also fragile. Yet too many continue living as though tomorrow is guaranteed.
Ask yourself an honest question: What has the street given you?
Has it helped you buy a home? Has it taught you a skill? Has it helped you support your parents, raise your children, or build a future? Or has it simply consumed your time while convincing you that doing nothing is normal?
Hours become days. Days become years. Before long, the dreams you once had are replaced by excuses. You become known not for what you accomplished, but for where you spent your afternoons.
There is another way.
Learn a trade. Start a small business. Return to school. Find a mentor. Volunteer. Get a job. Leave behind those who celebrate wasting time and surround yourself instead with people who expect more from you.
No one is claiming life is easy. Jobs can be hard to find. Opportunities are not always equal. But standing on a corner every day will never improve your circumstances.
The saddest part of tragedies like the one in Potters is how familiar they become. We read the headlines, shake our heads, and move on — until the next shooting.
It does not have to be this way.
If even one young man decides today that he has spent enough time on the block and chooses instead to invest in himself, then this tragedy may yet spare another life.
Do not wait until your family is planning your funeral. Do not wait until your photograph is printed on a memorial T-shirt. Do not wait until your mother receives the call every parent dreads.
Walk away from the corner while you still can.
Your future is waiting somewhere else.
Sincerely, A Concerned Citizen
