When MURDER comes home

For Michael McDonald, murder wasn't just a statistic on the evening news -- it came to his doorstep, shattering his world in ways he never imagined. He was 31 years old when his father, a 68-year-old, hard-working man, was brutally slain in their home.

Three decades later, McDonald still carries the weight of that night, but has chosen a path of resilience, refusing to let revenge or bitterness dictate his life.

"Certain things me used to do, mi nuh do again because my old man dead fi me," said McDonald, now a father of three.

The night his father was attacked and shot is still clear in his memory. He had been asleep, knocked out from a mix of weed and liquor, when gunmen entered his house. The brutal crime scene was something out of a nightmare -- his father shot, beaten, and stabbed in the chest.

"Mi hear mi name and a so mi jump up, and by the time mi go 'round deh, the man dem already gone. Him call me when dem gone, because him know if him did call me while dem deh deh, mi woulda dead, too," McDonald said.

As he carried his father to the hospital, he heard his last words.

"The girl weh come with we ask him, 'Mr Mac, a who shot you?' and him respond, 'If me tell you, dem a go kill you and mi son,'" McDonald recalled.

Even in death, his father's priority was his safety.

"He died to save me; he was always a humble person, and a that me take from him. I don't carry no grudges, and me never think back and say mi a go look fi who do it. Him know who do it, and him dead with it."

McDonald told THE STAR that instead of growing bitter and seeking to avenge his father's death, he chose a different approach, inspired by his father's humility.

"Even when the police dem call me fi make statement, mi tell dem say mi never see nothing, because mi really never see nothing. Mi know nothing

"Crime in Jamaica is too much, and it never a go stop; 'cause from me a little boy, crime a happen. Me just decide seh mi nah go become a part of it and lose more than what crime tek from me. A three youth me have," he said, determined to break the cycle.

"My father work hard, from me born mi see the man do all different type a work, and a that's why mi come love work and make my own. Mi have three kids, two boy and one girl and mi mek dem used to money."

His advice to today's youth is simple but profound:

"All mi can tell dem youth yah is, God first and everything else after. Don't carry no grudge. Unexpected things will happen, people will hate you, but still do good and earn by the sweat of your own brow ... . Read a Psalms every day before you leave home and you will see the difference."