WHEN EVERYTHING GO WRONG TO WHO DO WE TURN?
WHEN everything goes wrong to who or what does one
turn to have been the cry of all and sundry since time immemorial. Some persons
have turn to drinking, gambling, murder and the like to find a way to solve
their problems individually. Nations have gone to war with other nations,
religion has turned to persecution of minorities and those that do not share
their views. Whatever method or means that humanity have found to try to get
things right when all seem wrong, the truth is for the most part it has gone
horribly wrong. We can see it every day around us.
At this time that age old question is now been ask in
this country. With the society falling apart, the economy in total disarray,
morality hitting all-time lows, education in a mess, and God knows what else,
the question now been pondered by many, is very important. For ages now men
have look for salvation in many areas, the Jews looked for a Messiah, the Arabs
are looking for their Messiah-the Mahdi, the Germans look to Hitler in the
1930`s and so too did the Americans to Roosevelt. Jamaica look to Seaga in the
80`s to provide salvation too. These men have provided varying degrees of
success to their Nation and people in their time-depending on what barometer is
used to measure success in the case of Hitler. In any event, he transformed the
German economy to be able to wage war from 1939 to 1945. The reason why these
men have been successful is that they provided leadership, and guidance,
stability and prosperity when their nations needed it. Hitler set about
transforming Germany and to educate his population, totally overhauling the
economic foundation of Germany and turning it into a productive enterprise. That
was very good. But what Hitler did well was to channel the despair of the German
Nation, in such a way that there wasn’t social implosion but a renewed sense of
belonging and National pride, by providing the most important thing any person
needs to survive in difficult time: hope. He gave the hopeless Nation, (suffering
from what some terms the oppressive treaty of Versailles signed when Germany lost
the First World War, and the global depression that hit the world then)hope.
Jamaica is now in a similar position. This Nation is
in desperate need of a leader with a vision for a brighter future that can be
understood by the simplest man on this island. This Nation is in need of a
leader that can inspire, the populace towards a clear objective. Hitler did
that very well in Germany. While am not advocating the tyrannical nature of
Hitler`s Germany, our National leaders would do well to understand how he went
about inspiring people and given them hope. What we have in Jamaica is not
leaders that actually have leaders that inspire hope, only ones that quarrel
and quibble. Our present Prime Minister is a prime example. When one sit down and listen to our
politicians, all that one hears is a steady stream of the blame game. And the
amazing thing about this blame game mentality, is that it is predicated on the
assumption that because one side did so badly the other side has the authority
to do worse, and nobody dare criticize them. What is not evident to those who
seek to lead us is that the constant blame games, have not, and will not,
rectify our present troubles or inspire hope in the Jamaican population.
Everything about Jamaican politics is boring,
un-inspiring and redundant. We argue over politically leaders, not policies or
programmes, we argue over party, not performance, we argue over who waste Jamaican
resources more, rather than standing up and saying no to whomever waste these
very limited resources. To show how apathetic this nation has become, the
custody battle between Yendi Phillips and dancehall entertainer Chino is
discussed more than the recent revelation that one Government Minister racked
up a phone bill of 1.09 million Jamaican dollars.
What is sad is the hopelessness that characterizes
this Nation seem to have no end in sight. Young people are growing up every day
without a sense of purpose, looking at life as been nothing to really honour or
protect. Just look at the hundreds been slaughtered each year in this small
Nation. I remember when the present Minister of Education the Reverend Ronald Thwaite’s
was in Opposition, he made a stunning remark one morning on his then talk show,
Independent Talk on Power 106 FM. He said he visited one of our prominent
incarceration institutions and he spoke with some young men that told him they
did not expect to live to see twenty-three years of age, so whatever they hope
to achieve in life they want it before then. That’s just a stunning but true statement.
When a nation have so much young person’s devoid of any hope for a better
future, it’s not surprising that there is the level of violence and mayhem in
this country as we are currently living through. There is just nothing to give
hope to these disillusion young people-of whom I must admit am one -that the
next ten years there will be a change for the better.
The young ladies isn’t fairing much better either, as
having a college degree does not guarantee a happy and prosperous life, but
shacking up with a lotto scammer or don is the goal to be aspired to. Sad but
true.
There isn’t a national vision that is inspiring or
worthwhile thinking about or even practicable for that matter. All that we hear
of is Vision 2030 and the logistic hub. Both of which few actually understands
much more to be inspired by. In my view those are two things that can truly be
classified as a dream.
Hitler organized Germany around a shared vision, a
clear, attainable goal that all Germans could readily understand- to make
Germany a great nation once again. He set about creating the conditions to make
Germany great, and he got the entire Nation to believe it. Jamaican leaders
need to understand that very simple fact. But unlike Hitler who had a vision of
what he wanted Germany to look like, and set about putting it in place, our
politicians have no such vision to inspire us all to accept and rally around. The
question still stands: to who or whom do we go to when everything is falling
apart?