Our Brand Jamaica that we take for granted

I cannot fully emphasise how proud I
am of our brand Jamaica. I am always of the opinion that Jamaican is a good country with a lot of good people surrounded by a few idiots who cower the rest of us into fear forcing us to put up with their foolishness.

A Small island like ours has a cultural movement like reggae and dance hall music, our athletes and sportsmen are the most dominant within the Caribbean region and the world. We have won the Ms World title before, We have been spelling bee champion which means that we have brilliant people and beautiful people among us. We are creative people, people of laughter, humour and fun.Why can't we be committed to ensuring the betterment of our society.

I am proud of the people who represent us on the international front despite everything that others might have to say about Jamaicans. People say we are gay bashers, child molesters, we have the most corrupt political system and security forces but in all of that we have good people among us.


We have young people like myself who in face of death will readily stand up for the betterment of my people and society. I will never let brand Jamaica die or let selfish people who only care about themselves and not the communal benefits of our land we love, destroy the dreams of Marcus Garvey or Michael Manley.


Our young people are cut off from our roots. We need to stop watching TV and have the elders tell night time stories like my grandmother did when i was child where we are encourage to mimic Christian principles and core values. We should be committed to building our nation just as how we are moved with passion to eliminate and hurt our brothers and sisters when they offend us.

I say it over and over again that if good people were as militant as wicked people then we would have a better world but good people live in fear. They know too well that humility will be mistaken as weakness and that in today’s world if you are not "chucking badness" people think you are a softers.

We say what does not concern you that you should leave it alone but we know very well that soon enough the same stick that lick the black snake will lace the yellow one too and the same way a man deal with another man, he will hurt you in the same manner too.

Our Education Minister has called on us to teach tolerance in school but they must know that this will never be enough. We need a cultural overhaul. I see mothers telling their sons to curse neighbours simply because the neighbour insist that if they are going to pick mangoes, call and ask permission instead of sending stone missiles over the lady's yard.

I am not mistaken that these mothers create these monsters, who are menaces to society and then they cannot control them. Most if not all of the young men I grew up with are from good homes with good parents. I use many of them as examples of one can be accomplished when boys are exposed to education and proper values reinforced in their homes. I can attest that all the men who were my classmates in high school are successful young men who will never be caught in certain situations.

We see Beenie Man raising our flag high on an international cable station and I am force to dream again like Martin Luther King about our young boys and the future of our country. I would like for Beenie Man and others to at least become engaged in our education system, spending time in our communities to build back the unity and love that I believe we need to fight crime, violence and corruption.

Jamaicans stop thinking individually and more nationally.

I have spoken several times about how much due to my past endorsement during my adolescent years of the Jamaica Labour Party. I was subjected to calumnious rhetoric and slews of profanity whenever I went to the corner shop to buy anything. Worst if I complained about the high prices of the groceries.

This staunch PNP supporter in his early seventies would start on the (dutty Laborites) as soon as I grace his shop front. I know that this diatribe was geared at me. Why was I subjected to this verbal abuse was completely beyond me?  I blogged about it several times on the Triond.com platform.

Fast forward, PNP ,a party that I help put in Government because I was dissatisfied with the performance of the labourites and in particular, the Tivoli Incursion , now disappointing most young people yet these older folks not quarreling about the state of affairs when I go to their shops.

Instead I hear Ms Enid claim that "it don't matter who Inna government things nah get better, Jamaica done mash up long time";$haking her head vehemently ' she hands me a pound of flour now $70 a pound.
In my big dunce head this lady's statement translates that she would rather have a hard time living under a PNP regime than the dutty labourites.

Despite the logic that I administered trying to explain to them that JLP did not take flower from "six pence and trupance" to fifty dollars a pound. I tried to elucidate that our inflation rate was steadily rising over the last 18 years of PNP administration. They would not listen or see my illustrations of facts, they were too concern in Insulting my generation who are more interested in progress than party loyalty to Manley's dead legacy.

I am not gonna trash older Jamaicans because God Knows I have not seen or experience some of things they have. I cannot truly say I understand where they are coming from because they remember Jamaica from a time that I know nothing about. I also know that life can change who you are. I see it everyday. In my twenty five years, every year brings new insights and old ideologies are shaken off. I often imagine what my perspectives will be if I
Iive to see seventy and the rate Jamaica is going. I doubt I will.

What I do not like is older people thinking that they can dictate the future of a society that for the majority has moved beyond the grasp of their comprehension. My generation do not think moving from pit latrine to inside bathroom is an upgrade. We have cable TV and know that we want nice bathroom, with water coming out of the wash bowl, jacuzzi and the whole works.

We live in a different world so we have different needs brought on by this media socialization. We don't want our kids to sleep together in a one room, we want them to have their own rooms. We have visions of living our lives to the best of our potentials and the internet has taught us that opportunities are abound in the world.

We need a government that will make that happen. A government that is thinking twenty first century. We respect the foundations that our elders and ancestors have cemented but we believe that it is now time to move on to greater heights.