On April 11 most of CNN's programming had extended conversations about US presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama's use of the word "bitter" in response to a speech he made in which he stated that people across America were bitter because of their current economic situation and their lack of faith in their government. The senator was accused of "bashing" and "attacking" the hard-working citizens of small-town America, and the network continuously repeated his opponents' declarations of Obama being an elitist.

I sat there watching these so-called news people and pundits in amazement. Finally, a candidate running for office speaks to the citizens of his country with honesty, and he comes under attack. Of course, many Americans are bitter, and they deserve to be. Who wouldn't be resentful when they feel their government has failed them - in the midst of an unnecessary and seemingly endless war, lost jobs, inflation, unaffordable health insurance and homes going into foreclosure? Now, what could be less elitist than stating the truth about the situation without patronage?

It seems the world has a problem with the truth. How dare you tell me we are not in a rose garden? How dare you say to me that we are not perfect? How dare you suggest that we should do better? In Jamaica, during the 2007 general election campaign, then Opposition leader Bruce Golding, recommended that we ought to change the course we were on because it led nowhere. In response to this, the PNP called the JLP negative and campaigned to vote, not for the party that tells the truth, but rather to stay on course with them and revel in our undoing.

In the Aprill 11 Observer, Barbara Gloudon responded to Amnesty International's report on Jamaica in her column, "Who should 'let them kill each other'?" She wrote that the Amnesty International study sounded like "excerpts from a patio session of vodka cocktails and talk to scare the pants off each other". I thought Mrs Gloudon would have noticed that there is in fact an inordinate level of crime and violence in our tiny island, disproportionate to our small population.

This lawlessness is due to the combination of a lack of education and poverty among many Jamaicans as well as a flawed legal system. Our legal system has suffered from corruption and human rights violations, and crime has detracted from our quality of life because people have become afraid to invest in Jamaica and we've lost much of our capacity for recreation. Put the hooch down, Mrs Gloudon.

Unless we are willing to accept the truth about our situation, as unpleasant as it may be, and decide to be the change we need, we are the ones who will let us kill each other. Ask yourself the following:

* When was the last time you felt safe walking down the street after 6:00 o'clock, or the last time you sat in the park for a picnic?

* The last time you even flinched reading a news report about an incident of gun violence.

* Why we've been okay with the endemic poverty, illiteracy and innumeracy in our nation.

* Why our hospitals are short of items as basic as toilet paper and test tubes.

* Why we've invested billions in Cash Plus and none in our own country.

. Do you feel secure enough in your future to plan your retirement?

. When was the last time that you took time out to evaluate your life and our country?

. What are you going to do about it?

I have not given up on my country. I have witnessed our community efforts and seen the strength of our people. I believe in our potential for growth and I am anxious to see whether the current administration will progress. I am certain that they will need all of our efforts and our willingness to pull our heads out of the sand and face the truth.

G'Tanya Forbes is a philosophy major graduate from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

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