Dr Phil was the genuine article
I am unable to address Mr Wignall’s 6th article. I write this one with the deepest of sorrow and the greatest of shame. My heart is heavy and overflowing.
There are two persons in Jamaica who define integrity. One died last Saturday. He is Dr Phillip Chamberlin better known as Dr Phil. He was the standard bearer, having only one standard — excellence. He was the genuine article.
No cloak can conceal our sorry faces. We did not deserve Dr Phil. Why did you have to kill him, what was his crime? He returned to Jamaica for no other purpose than to help and “big up” his great country with the latest in imaging technology, etcetera.
He knew nothing but service to his people. At the age of 70 he was still in his office working on a Saturday evening! Jamaica, what more do you want? Shame on you. You are complicit in this crime — recklessly indifferent. You sat and watched it happen.
What is certain is that you have season tickets for the next match and the one after that. You will say nothing, have seen nothing, heard nothing and you put this murder in your brimful glove compartment. Dr Phil deserves more, much more. Why did we let this happen?
It is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to bury Dr Chamberlin. With him goes kindness, compassion, ethics, gallantry, humility and the greatest of love for Jamaica. Dr Phil was always at great pains to frown. A smile was permanently affixed to his face.
We cut down our seniors in this country even faster than our mahogany trees. All the learning gone, all the experience gone, sage, work ethic, standards of excellence all squandered. Jamaica is now bereft of an irreplaceable pillar.
Doc, it may be a little while before we can say good bye. Good bye is too painful, it’s unbearable, please understand. We wish to reserve to when we join you at the place of marvel, beauty and the purest of love.
Jesus would have been called back home much sooner had there been just two more like you. Angels do come in all shapes and sizes. Poor Gabriel, he has nothing on you!
I shed tears for Dr Phil. Grief is overwhelming. This writer has never met Dr Phillip Chamberlin.
I am forever grateful to the Observer for allowing me to use this space in dedication to a man for whom adjectives abound and tears flood.