JAMAICA lost many of its outstanding citizens during 2010. It was as if the Grim Reaper took a prolonged sojourn in this island this year taking with him some of our best minds and icons of excellence. It was indeed an annus horribilis!

The University of the West Indies was hard hit, losing the likes of Professor Rex Nettleford and Professor Barry Chevannes. And as if that was not enough, veteran journalist John Maxwell, who was also a member of the UWI family, passed on.

So many names come to mind. Sonia Pottinger, Gregory Isaacs, Sugar Minott and Lloyd Hall from the music and entertainment world and just recently Ben Clare from the political arena. Then there was the inimitable Norma Shirley, Jamaica’s queen of haute cuisine, and the beloved Rev Canon Weeville Gordon, a former custos of Kingston and St Andrew who often acted as governor general. Yes, death is inevitable but its sting can be debilitating and demoralising for those who are left behind. Many of these deaths also bring to an end an illustrious period in the history of the nation’s development.

Here in the west — my neck of the woods — Montego Bay lost the legendary Cornwall College schoolboy footballer Billy Griffiths; Cecil Agate, also of Cornwall College, who was known to have given back so much to his alma mater, and Bishop W Peynado, a colourful and well-known man of the cloth who was brutally murdered.

Of course, even though the murder statistics have declined in comparison to last year, there were many heinous acts of homicide, including a record number of law officers who have been cut down by criminal elements. Motor vehicle accidents have also continued unabated and this writer is calling on the relevant authorities to take a special look at that section of the North Coast Highway in Montego Bay, stretching from the Sangster International Airport roundabout to Wiltshire, the border of St James and Trelawny, dubbed “The Elegant Corridor”, which has been the scene of a large number of motor vehicle accidents, many of them fatal.

In this vein, one is pleased to see that the police will be intensifying their road patrols during the festive season, but let us hope that the focus will continue into the new year because there are too many road hogs out there, speeding, overtaking and doing just about everything that can cause an accident. Cellphone users must also take note because increasingly both motorists and pedestrians who become distracted by using this means to talk or text have been endangering theirs and other peoples’ lives.

Frighteningly, there are many drivers out there who bought their licences, cannot read or write and have fake papers. This high level of corruption in the island’s traffic department is yet to be seriously tackled by the powers that be. These miscreants are like lethal weapons out there.

Two other causes of death are one’s lifestyle and sexual promiscuity. There are too many of our young men and women in the prime of their lives who are becoming victims of HIV-AIDS. The dancehall and “bling” culture has contributed to the widespread practice of irresponsible sexual encounters. Our school children have become victims of this profligacy so much so that public transportation, especially taxis and buses, are being used to propagate such lewd acts as “no panty day” and the showing of pornography.

Heavy smoking and drinking have also been taking their toll on the population. Ironically, the harsh economic times have contributed to this as individuals, particularly males, are prone to soothe their stressful lives by resorting to “a light and some whites”. John Maxwell, God bless his soul (although he was reportedly an atheist), has left behind a most potent and timely message with respect to the ravages of smoking of which he became a victim, having died from lung cancer.

Lest we forget, some 79 Jamaicans (many of them innocent victims), were killed during that infamous Tivoli Gardens incursion. To date, no national words of remorse and sincere regret have come from officialdom. One suspects that because they were all seen as “ole naygahs”(old niggers) then it does not really matter. In the final analysis, their deaths should not go in vain so one hopes that the Dudus/Manatt Enquiry will provide some amount of accountability and redress. They must not only be seen as “collateral damage”.

One of the real tragedies of Jamaica’s experience with the Grim Reaper is that so many of us, including children, have become seemingly immune to its effects. Too often we see persons laughing and behaving in a carnival-like fashion at the scene of a bloody tragedy. Life has become cheap, too cheap in this country. A way must be found to get our people to respect and cherish life lest we ultimately become a land of homicidal maniacs.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and contemplate renewal in 2011, let us be inspired by the words and deeds of those who passed on in 2010 so that their lives will not be in vain.

“Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,

For, those whom thou thinks’t, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me. (John Donne)

To my many readers, have a wonderful and safe Christmas. May you live as long as you live!

lloydbsmith@hotmail.com