Newsgroups: soc.culture.caribbean
Subject: Re: Jamaica gone perdition
From: <AGL1@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 20:38:09 EST
Organization: Penn State University

In article <2B6473AA.1548@news.service.uci.edu>, ecurtis@orion.oac.uci.edu
(Evans Curtis) says:
>
>In article <1993Jan24.232358.9517@mailer.cc.fsu.edu>
>seivwright@evax0.eng.fsu.edu writes:
>>I can't blame anyone for the disgust but it is sign of the time. I always
>>believed you can determine the times by the state of the children. With
>>high drop out rates, teenage pregnancy, higher crime rate, robbery and what
>>not.
>
>These are some strong and scary words but in all fairness, the guy has a
>point, and what's more, he could be right.
>
>I come from a very isolated area of Nicaragua and upon returning in 1991,
>after being away for about 14 years, I noticed things that as a child was
>almost unheard of.  Specifically the things Roy alluded to above.  Dropouts
>in school in nothing new, but the pregnancy rate was just too much.
>
>My father never carried a single key when I was growing up.  Now you'd better
>lock up the house when you're going to church.  There isn't much to steal
>since everybody is basically poor, yet there are robberies.  Not too
>many killings now but we had our share during the Sandinistas days since
>lots of young men got their hands on AK47's.
>
>Yes, people must eat, people must dress, and with no jobs to be found...?
>I think our countries have to keep the young ones busy.  But what kind of
>work can one do without an education?  And for those too old for school,
>can't afford it, or worse yet, don't WANT it?  It is sad.  These are major
>problems but MUST be addressed.  And the thing is, that even with an education
>you're not guaranteed a job -there ARE no jobs :( :(
>
>
>Evans.-
>
>

I too have been concerned for some time with the direction that the country
seems to be taking.  I grew up in rural St. elizabeth with glass front doors
which have had to changed to heavy hard wood.  We grew up in an environment
where there was a certain amount of respect for elders and anyone of your
adult neighbours could scold the children.  Even though area was mainly a
poor to middle class area, it was a source of pride to many that the houses
glistened, and that poverty was not an excuse to steal.
     As a society, we seem to have lost our moral compass.  I go home every yr
to see my family and to get in touch with what I call "my reality" (different
from "reality in Central PA" where not having a parking space or cable TV
is considered a major problem).I was home last summer and Christmas and I
was shocked by some things that have been happening.  things have been getting
gradually worse for many years but we seem to be in an exponential fall lately.
It seems that there is nothing that cannot be done any more.  NO one seems to
be able to lead the country toward a "higher moral plain" ,whatever that may be
I just know that it has to be higher than what we have now. The persons to whom
one normally looks for such guidance are themselves constatnly embroiled in one
scandal or another. Sad to say, that the adults in the population are much to
blame for the behaviour of the children.  Parents naturally, do not want to be
as hard on their children as their parents were with them but Jamaican parents
have a RESPONSIBILITY to discipline their children and many of them have
abdicated that responsibility.  Thirty years ago, there were less teenage
pregancies because parents had more control over their children.  The behaviour
of many adults leaves much to be desired so kids feel free to do as they please
We reallt need to find a solution to these problems and we need someone to say
that it is not acceptable to either "wine up to soca or rub up to dancehall on
TV".  People seem to think that any one of these things is any worse
than the other because on is favoured by uptown.  It is this kind of mixed
message that kids get all the time.
     When people feel that it is right to put rotting bodies in the road to
protest about the stench from shallow graves it says something about both the
government that will not pay the grave diggers enough, the grave diggers them-
selves and the people protesting.  When the stock market is rising on air (no
increase in production and earnings sighted for so many companies), and mainly
rich people are making more money, insider trading is rife on the exchange.
Other people look at that as just another form of robbery.  We need our moral
compass to point away from anarchy.
     Despite all of these problems, I am still going home.  If all the people
who can really make a difference leave then the ones left will be even worse
off.  The jamaican spirit is still there, evident in the fact that with all the
 economic hardship, many people are willing to fight ( witness the save the $
initiative).  I think it would help tremendously if more Jamaicans are educated
about the way things really are abroad and how the global economy works.
     That's my (long) hay'penny worth.

Arlene Laing
____________________________________________________________________
                        l "Ranny, where yu is?
agl1@psuvm.psu.edu      l "Leaning up aghence a banana tree"
Penn State University   l "Which banana tree?"
University Park PA 16802l "The banana tree dat is leaning aghence me"
                        l           Louise Bennett and Ranny Williams
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.caribbean