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?