Dear Reader,

The straightforward and principled stand that James Moss-Solomon took last week when he summarily resigned from the public boards on which he sat, in opposition to the leadership crisis in the country, immediately brought to my mind Claude McKay’s poem, If We Must Die. The noted Jamaican poet and writer recognised the difference between dignity and dastardliness, between courage and compromise when he wrote:

“If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursed lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honour us though dead!

O kinsmen, we must meet the common foe!

Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,

And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!

What though before us lies the open grave?

Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”

Moss-Solomon, who has been a creature of corporate Jamaica for most of his professional life, and a boardroom insider, must have given great weight to his decision, and must have known the intransigence, if not the outright hostility, that would result from his action. True to form, those in the society who have jettisoned their moral compass, and distorted the difference between right and wrong and good and evil, immediately attempted to twist Moss-Solomon’s principled stand to suit their own privileged positions.

The chairman of the Board of the Urban Development Corporation, Wayne Chen, seemed quick to advise others not to follow Moss-Solomon’s example.

Somebody needs to ask Mr Chen to define what good leadership is. He needs to explain how his tenure on the UDC board has engendered the integrity and reforms of the “change from within” theory that he is seeking to expound and to elicit support.

Not only are things getting worse every day with prominent Jamaicans sitting on all types of public boards, but the few good examples of integrity, like Contractor General Greg Christie, are being shamelessly and openly persecuted.

Perhaps Mr Chen’s arguments might be plausible and credible if any of us had heard him speak as passionately about Manatt, Phelps & Phillips – about the abomination of the alleged ties between criminal networks and the political directorate, or about the lives of the 73 people killed in Tivoli Gardens as a result of the “garrisonisation” of the minds and actions of poor and gullible young men and women.

As I pondered on the glaring hypocrisy surrounding the Moss-Solomon issue, I came upon a story that could not have been more apropos. It read, “A well-known manufacturer once asked Will Rogers to write a testimonial for his pianos. Rogers, who never endorsed products he didn’t believe in, wrote, “Dear Sir: Your piano is the best I’ve ever leaned against!” The long-term benefits of shunning hypocrisy far outweigh any short-term comfort level. Here’s why: (1) Your life influences others. Never underestimate the effect that genuineness has on your family, your co-workers and your friends. As the world tries to squeeze us all into its mould, a life of integrity stands out in sharp contrast. (2) Hypocrisy destroys your testimony. We all know people who say they don’t attend church because “they’re all hypocrites”. How sad! When we preach “cream” and live “skimmed” milk, people lose respect for us and the One we represent.”

The writer goes on to say that “Paul could never be dubbed a phony because he made a practice of calling it like it is. Remember his big confrontation with Peter? Listen: “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him…because he was…wrong…he used to eat with the Gentiles. But …he began to…separate himself…because he was afraid of those in the circumcision group…other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy…even Barnabas was led astray” (Galatians 2:11). It takes backbone to speak out like that!”

Finally, the writer concludes that “Throughout history, those known for character and integrity were the most admired and influential. Plato said, “He who would be blessed and happy should first be a partaker of truth, then he can be trusted.”

In a country where the lives of powerful men have been largely characterised by “profits over principle”, Moss-Solomon’s stand is a critical departure and an important example, especially for the country’s youth who are almost completely devoid of good moral leadership in day-to-day national life.

My own work with inner-city men over many decades keeps exposing me to the same question over and over again whenever issues of corruption arise, “Then wa bout di big man dem, Miss? If di big man dem a do wrong, den wa dem expect the little man fi do?” I recommend that this question be put on the agenda of the next UDC board meeting and those other boards occupied by Moss-Solomon’s detractors.

With love,

bab2609@yahoo.com