When the news came of the nine-year-old boy who was allegedly sodomised and murdered along a lonely road in his community, it forced some of us to long for the days when we were children – days when the entire community cared for the children. In those days, if Maas John heard Redman sending his child on a lonely road he could easily say to him, “No Redman, don’t let him go alone. Ask Mary boy to go with him.” Redman would not take offence but would likely say “Thank you, man, you see two heads better than one, even if one is coco head. “That kind of conversation rarely occurs today. Everyone is minding his own business.

He “sees no evil, speaks no evil, hears no evil”. That caring spirit for every child in the community by all is slowly ebbing away. Our children are left to grow up unsupervised, untrained and unloved simply because many people are afraid to show that they care for other people’s children.

Some school administrators and teachers are constantly confronted by parents who believe that their children should not be reprimanded or punished. Gone are the days when you dared not go home and tell your parents that you got into trouble at school or that someone reprimanded you on the way home even if you honestly believed you were unfairly treated! That was so because parents were so appreciative of teachers and other adults who tried to guide their children along the right paths.

We need to recapture that community spirit where we cared for every child; where every child’s problem was the problem of all; where a parent is not offended if his child is scolded by another adult; where a child could not go hungry when there is food at his neighbours house; where adults together took on the responsibility of looking after the community’s children.

Easton Lee’s book From Behind the Counter in which he recounts his childhood days gives a good insight into the good old days of caring, sharing and loving among a community. In his preface he said “the wisdom of the ages was ours gathered from their (older folks) experience handed down word-of-mouth to us or by example in unique and special ways as they received from grand and great grandparents. The learning came as well from their friends and relatives for you were everybody’s child”.

Faith Clemmings is the principal of the Montego Bay High School for girls.