Dear Editor,

There are many things that are lacking in my beloved Jamaica which account for the state of this nation. It pains a lot of people to see this God-given land with such natural beauty suffer in this manner. As a man who has travelled to a few countries around the world, I have never seen a place like Jamaica.

The man-made Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Atomium in Brussels, the Statue of Liberty in New York, the CN Tower in Toronto and the London Bridge in London are no match for the natural beauty of Negril’s white sand beach, the Martha Brae River, Dunn’s River Falls, the majestic scenery of the Cockpit Country and, most of all, the Jamaican people. With all these natural beauties in our possession, Jamaica should be in a better position.

The people who ought to be setting the example, to help us make Jamaica a better place, lack vision, intelligence and common sense. For them, honesty is a foreign word. They might be educated but they are not intelligent. To fix Jamaica’s problem, we all need to pull in the same direction. For once, we need to forget politics and work as Jamaicans.

Someone who is educated has a high standard of learning. A person who is intelligent has the ability to think, understand, and learn things quickly and correctly. Our politicians are not intelligent and that is the main reason people and businesses are staying away from Jamaica.

Refurbishing a politician’s house for an exorbitant amount of money while leaving our police officers to sleep in a football stadium cannot solve crime. Walking out of a dilapidated building to fight hardened criminals must leave our police officers feeling disrespected. A police is like any other worker in Jamaica who leaves his/her house in a good mood to provide good service to his/her customers. I could understand if the building was destroyed by a storm and the only place available was the stadium. If the Government provides the police with the proper resources and with a place where they feel comfortable to go to when they finish their duties, they would provide better service.

Parents need to have better control over their kids’ life so that we can see a brighter future for them and Jamaica. Spending more time with our kids will bear fruit. I would encourage parents to buy books as gifts for their kids this coming Christmas. Buying your kids the latest GSM phone, iPod or iPhone when they cannot even read the manual is pure ignorance. There were always six to seven books, hand-made wool socks, pyjamas and two games under the Christmas tree for my three kids. It was always a pleasure to watch them playing their games before putting on their pyjamas and wool socks and curling up on the sofa reading. We cannot build a better Jamaica if we only bring up kids who can make a phone call but cannot read the phone’s manual.

Today’s politicians are educated but clueless as to what is good for Jamaica. They open their orifices but only venom come out. If they were to be paid based on their performance they would be living in cardboard boxes.

Hero Scott

cloggyseba@hotmail.com

Brussels, Belgium