THE DAWNING of a new year has come and with it the hopes and expectations alongside the fear and doubts. Is it my imagination or were there fewer big celebrations on New Year's Eve? The events portrayed on our two major TV stations were modest - and lacklustre - compared to similar events of other years. Whatta gwaan?

The first answer some people will give is "economics". Money was tight. The spiralling prices in almost every area put a brake on festivities all over. People still found a way to celebrate. We don't give up on merriment so easily, even if circumstances did force even the most avid fun makers to hold down lickle bit.

The big event of the season, by all reports, was the Beres Hammond "One moment in time". Admission wasn't cheap by any means. Tickets at eight thousand and twelve thousand DOLLARS a couple were nothing to be sneezed at, but the true fans didn't blink. To my deep regret, I missed what I've heard was a memorable evening.

The other appointment which claimed my involvement was the 50th wedding anniversary of a couple who exemplified the best of what JA people used to be.

The story which was told of how they met, courted and married, was a history lesson of more gentle times, of strict rules of behaviour, a time when, according to an old shoemaker, "Love was like a good pair of shoes - meant to last." Well, this marriage has outlived the finest shoe leather and is still going strong. Congratulations therefore to Revd Levi Hall and Revd Doreen Hall of Snowdon, Manchester, both Anglican teachers - preachers, committed to sacred ministry, their family, their church and their community. Respect!

OVER THE SEASON, conversation at "gatherings" inevitably turned to what the new year could/should bring. Ten out of ten times, the topic was the upsurge of violence, the death toll which spiralled to unprecedented heights bringing shame and sadness.

No parish escaped the carnage. Some fared worse than others. It still remains to be explained why St James in general and Montego Bay in particular exploded with such ferocity. Theories about gang activity did little to calm fears.
The shots seemed to ring out every single day with awful consequences. It was especially painful and puzzling when police officers were counted among the victims.

We've got a new police commissioner to whom the people - at home and abroad - are now looking for miracles. To hear some people talk, there's a new Superman in Metropolis and he'd better deliver. Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin is doing his best to douse the fires of unrealistic expectation.

He seems prepared for action now. He's got his khaki uniform, his beloved beard has been shaved (to meet Constabulary Force regulations) and he has announced that his press conferences will henceforth be reserved to once a month. He says he's done with talking and is prepared for action and so should be the rest of the community. That means coping with all our individual eccentricities.

On the street, the hottest word is that no one wants to hear about Oh-Eight (as in 2008). Through as how we're experts at "hadding haitches", Oh-Eight would've ended up as "Ho-Hate". Well, the word from now on, we've been told, is to be "Ho-Love". Yuh tink we easy, nuh!

THE OTHER HOT-BUTTON TOPIC of conversation was education. Everybody had a theory as to what should be done about improving our system. As usual, much of what was said was focused on the negative - where we failed and why we are the tail end of modern civilisation - or so we believe.

Every instant expert - inside and outside of our shores, proclaims that the entire Jamaican education system is in shambles, that most, if not all our children are semi-idiots and that, compared to the rest of the world, we're nothing but a bunch of retards. On the basis of what has been said and published, even by those who have responsibility for the system, many believe that all our schools are rundown dump heaps with uncaring teachers just waiting to flee the coop.

Not too many know, or even if they do, are prepared to acknowledge that there are schools in our system which are doing well, schools where students are studying and getting good grades, schools where the students are clean and orderly, schools where parents take an interest in their children's well-being and work with the teachers in the interest of development.

True, these model schools are not as many as we would wish, but it would be interesting to see what would happen if we were to hold them up as examples to be emulated, find out why they work and try to get others to be inspired to set similar standards for achievement.

It is time to admit that not every Jamaican boy is a dunce, shoving a knife into the side of colleagues. Not every Jamaican schoolgirl is interested in having sex on the bus or becoming a teenaged mother. Not every student leaves school illiterate, as we're fond of saying. While we should be concerned about the far too many who do, we have to find room to celebrate those who excel, the teachers who teach them, the parents who support them. We have to loosen up on some of the stereotypes and go on to build on the positive.

What we need, if you ask me (and even if you don't), is to identify more role models, more success stories to be emulated. While we're at it, we need to revisit the definition of "role model". When last did you hear someone commend to a youngster the virtues of being a good carpenter, mason or electrician - or do we believe that the only achievers are doctors, lawyers, wealth-creators, whatever, so long as they look good in a designer suit with a browning to match? Why are we still surprised when so many of our sons and daughters opt for the quick-fix, hot-money route instead of facing reality?

The new year brings with it a lot of old questions demanding new answers. The challenge is that there's not much time to wait for the riddles to be solved. We'd better get cracking.
There's much to be done and I don't mean planning a new election in the early part of the year. What purpose would that serve?

THREE WISHES for the new year

(1) That all the bad roads which have become a threat to life and limb be fixed as soon as possible or the relevant MP/minister be sentenced to drive on them (sans SUVs) for the rest of their lives.

(2) That lunatic drivers who display absolutely no remorse for the effects of their recklessness, be incarcerated in a psychiatric facility for the remainder of this century.

(3) That women with large mammary appendages who take the "breast is best" message to mean "Let it all hang out in the name of Fashion," be confined to dairy farms until they return to their senses.

TILL SUCH TIME. we live in hope!

gloudonb@yahoo.com

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