Slackness, Ghetto and Acceptance

A member of my family unit recently decided to relocate due to the unrelenting tensions in the familial home. It was a sad indictment. I found no satisfaction in seeing her leave albeit she would have gladly gloated over my departure. That has always been the difference between the learned and the untutored. The ignorant find amusement in life lessons. I have asked God repeatedly if he sees any errors in my judgement, please reveal them to me because I am only human and to be mortal is to be flawed. 

I thought for the most part that whatever issues we had as a family could have been resolved without this drastic measure. It became clear to me that those without any iota of introspection are liable to commit the same infractions repeatedly. If you cannot look into yourself and see your mistakes then you will be unable to implement any corrective measures to your life. If you cannot see the errors in your ways then you are doomed. 

Sometimes I am embarrassed when I read the comments labelled against Ghetto people, Vybz Kartel and those from lower socio-economical stratum. But in my quiet moments often foddered by recent occurrences I realized that they may be right in some of their contemptuous diatribe.

  Poor, illiterate people are some of the most difficult people to deal with.  Irrationality is the name of their game. They like hearing their own voices than conceding an argument because of what they know is right. It's about scoring points, winning quarrels and defending warped, unsound opinions. They put up with slackness and expect everyone to tolerate their almshouse thinking. In the Ghetto when you have nothing, you have the most friends and the minute you show signs of progress even your own family becomes your arch rivals. Everybody loves you until you become their competition. 

People unwilling to reconcile differences are dangerous sociopaths, who despite the damage  their aberrant behavior engenders find no fault in their destructive behavior will create problems regardless of their location. 

Those who support wrongdoers will surely become their victims. If you fail to tell a loved one when they are wrong then rest assure that you will one day be a victim of their lopsided thinking. Those who partake of slackness will be retributed tenfolds. 

I am not in any position to condemn another human being. Those of us who came from the gutters know that from time to time a piece of us will break off and float back to the floor from whence we came.

  Wealth can gray your eyes at the edges, money does not make you hover above human qualities, you are only a flawed being with much material gain. 

There is nothing that haunts these streets like ignorance and irrationalism.  These streets carry their own rules often quaint to those who live outside the zinc fence and stench of poverty.

I cannot say adequately that I understand the fashion of these rules, I can only imagine that they serve to somewhat moderate the turbulent climate of these streets. It is not within my capacity to cast judgement, I will try my best to understand, resist from condemning but there are notions that I will never accept or condone. 

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.