Jamaicans, we need to do better

The year 2018 has been an interesting and challenging year for most Jamaicans. The country continues to suffer from a high murder toll and entrenched corruption. As a result, growth has been slow and the people are becoming increasingly frustrated.

We have begun to turn our murderous intentions on visitors and returning residents, and our hotels are besieged by lawsuits triggered by the alleged sexual misconduct of some of their employees.

In short, despite the improving macroeconomic indicators, not much has changed on the ground in the lives of the average Jamaican.

New year resolutions often seem to be a waste, because, for the most part, they are never kept. But as 2018 draws to a close, there are things that each one of us can do to make Jamaica a better place for everyone from 2019 going forward.

HARD WORK NEEDED

It will take a lot of work, sacrifice and commitment to make it happen, but we can do it. We have the will, but we need to unearth it once more after years of burying it under tons of hopelessness and despair.

The only way Jamaica can change for the better is for the people to change. Politicians will never be able to change this country. It is the people who hold the power to affect change.

We, the people, have to stop harbouring criminals and criminal intentions. We have to return to being honest. We have to cease being tribal, and when I say 'tribal', I mean the rich need to stop short-changing the poor. The poor need to stop fighting among ourselves. PNP and JLP need to cease the warfare on social media and elsewhere, because at the end of the day, we are Jamaicans first.

If we are able to do that, we can hold the police force and the political leadership to higher standards. We have to re-establish a society based on good morals, discipline and accountability.

We need to put a stop to the bad things going on around us the predatory fathers sleeping with their underage daughters and sons, the abusive mothers inflicting physical and emotional damage on their children.

We need to start stemming the rivers of blood that flow all around us every day. We have to heal.

This wound that Jamaica has become needs to stop festering. It needs to be cauterised.

It is the only way we can become the Jamaica we all love; the place we call home.

Happy New Year everyone!

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