"Change and decay in all around I see, help of the helpless, Lord, abide with me," are the lines of refrain from perhaps the best known hymn sung at funerals. Many Jamaicans who cannot read know those words by heart, or the lines precede the tune in a typical pre-karaoke style led by the minister.

It is appropriate, as it expresses a Christian belief in a resurrection of an imperfect human body to a higher plane of rebirth. It is a belief which calms grief and stress associated with a personal loss, and allows the bereaved a way back to resuming their normal human existence, and therefore is designed to help us heal and progress.

"What is the breaking of a few skulls in the building of a nation?" is attributed to Wills Isaacs, a former minister of Government, now deceased, and was designed to offer a different view of the then growing political violence. It was a justification of a growing cancer in our society, and was then taken as advice that surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy were not necessary.

The essential difference is that the Christian promise has a timeframe that is so vast, and may avoid challenge until the end of the Earth, and that is an indeterminate calculation in relation to infinity. The same is not true for the other statement, and the 50 years intervening brings human memory and the ability to assess and analyse our development into a sharp and relevant focus.

The "breaking of a few skulls" has escalated to 1,600 murders per year, and has become a major concern for our society. As the escalation took hold, thousands of Jamaicans found it necessary to flee this country for the relative peace of other lands. They have taken their education, their entrepreneurial abilities, and their civility with them to the benefit of other countries. They have also left with entire generations that had a strong moral and ethical compass, a methodology for change, and what we have remaining is decay.

The broken skulls and the thousands of murders have produced no signs of development in this nation. Poverty has become overwhelming, and a sense of hopelessness exists in our overcrowded inner-city communities. Since last week, all the comparative data discussed have shown an abject failure in development, including productivity, and absolute production statistics. So there is nothing of any great value for improving life for the vast majority of the poor. Dreams of a better life remain unfulfilled, and violence is often a move of desperation in the face of a progressive loss of opportunity.

Residential areas of the former middle class in the city have been turned into unregulated garages staffed by unqualified mechanics, of illegal outlets for fuel stolen from tankers and other below-the-scope activities. Unlawful activities flourish in these circumstances for two main reasons. Firstly, illegality is not a consideration unless you are caught and jailed, and only creates a space and opportunity for another similar operator (with even less skill). Secondly, persons may not leave their area to seek work elsewhere lest they change the politically preordained balance.

Change has emerged through the adaptation of the meanings of certain key words. "Irie" is a formless word that does not indicate acceptance or rejection of a particular viewpoint, but merely accepts that you are in the presence of a great philosopher steeped with great personal herbal experience. Similarly "soon come" is not a time-related factor, or, for that matter, an acceptance of a contractual agreement.

This is not funny or acceptable in the political arena among those who would be our masters. The same misinterpretation of basic understanding of really serious words are factors derived from the general society. Honesty and integrity and the breaches of those two fundamentals have inspired some members of the political echelons to act in thoroughly unacceptable ways. A lie is not a lie, and a theft is not a theft or corruption, unless we are able to investigate, arrest, and successfully prosecute and lock up the perpetrator. So cases are delayed. Parliament continues to function and seats are retained even if public trust has vanished.

At the same time, civil servants are fired, sent on leave, or transferred for alleged breaches. Parties decide to overlook the seats held by persons who have breached the electoral provisions of our Constitution, by a back-door conspiracy. In other countries, laws passed by such an irregular procedure would be challenged by the lawyers in the future and overturned. So we have an irregular Parliament and only a few persons are concerned. Thus an irregularly convened Parliament has no legal right to pass legislation that affects the citizens. If this point is not contested by our legal fraternity, then they deserve no respect.

I think that the majority of our people have little or no understanding of principles. In this I include some members of the private sector whose vision may be clouded by personal greed, and certain political pastors who wear party colours and think that they can use church membership to influence policy. My friend and former co-worker Bishop Lennie Anglin seems to be taking a stand, and I am waiting to see who from the church community will stand with him.

If any grouping should understand right and wrong, it should be the churches, but they may be too busy blocking casino gambling that may allow a competition for monies withheld from collection to be "invested" in gambling. Laughingly I remember their current losses in foreign exchange get-rich-quick schemes like OLINT and others. I have to assume that this set of conflicting values is evidence of the new interpretation of the life of Jesus Christ, who chased the money changers out of the temple.

Many of my private sector colleagues have resigned their fate to an acceptance of the right of politicians to hand out spoils. Their lack of self-esteem, and a learned belief that manna comes from party affiliation have emasculated many of them. Their excuse is that the way to change things comes from being an insider. This flies in the face of the evidence of 50 years of little or no real progress. More so, it decries the efforts of every person that has joined a revolution, from the Romans right through to the Cubans, and everyone in between.

One day, civil society will have had enough, and there will be a straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back. If only we had the will to effect change before we arrive at the stage of ultimate decay, then perhaps we may have a chance of some redemption for our nation in a measurable time frame.

This seems to be too great a task for our current political leaders, and change is a force to be resolutely resisted by them. The old guard teaches the tribal ways to the young bloods, and history repeats the cycle again. Our only hope is for a better life in the next world, or for something drastic to happen.

"Fast falls the eventide, the darkness deepens, Lord with me abide, when other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, Lord, abide with me."

God help Jamaicans to help their nation.

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