First published in the Jamaica Gleaner Wednesday June 15, 2005
OVER THE past few weeks there have been a lot of talk about all that is wrong with our country. Much of this talk has been focused on the problem of crime and violence, extortion and the failures of Government. However, the talkers need to go much further than merely restating problems that exist with the country, problems that everyone already knows. They need now to take it to the next step, helping with some of the solutions; turning all the talk to tangible actions.
The most serious problem that Jamaica has is that everyone knows what the ills are and who is to be blamed, but does nothing. We as a people seem always to be looking for someone else to fix our problems -Government, the Church, foreigners. Since emancipation and our subsequent independence from our colonial masters, we seem to have allowed ourselves to be colonised and enslaved once again. This time around, the colonisers are corrupt public officials. This time around, we are enslaved by the fear of being a victim of the frequent acts of violence perpetrated by the criminals among us.
Those individuals who we remember and celebrate each mid-October must be turning in their resting places. The independence that they fought so long and hard for is being taken for granted. It is being surrendered, without a fight, to the corrupt and criminal-minded.
We need to come to the realisation that the price of freedom and independence is the responsibility to ensure that this freedom is not subverted.
We know the problems, we know the solutions, what we do not have is the will. It is time for us to put up or shut up. It is time for all of us to realise that things are never going to get better unless we start making them better.
#truth
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