WHEN it was announced on Facebook that my little cousin “onnastan” and that is why she “cross ovah” GSAT, I was puzzled by the choice of words until someone sent me DJ Powa’s “refix” of a TVJ interview with St Thomas resident Clifton Brown. DJ Powa is Kevin-Sean Hamilton who took a shine to Brown’s twang, and added rhythm to create a catchy music video that has gone viral, even getting airtime on CBS.

So hold on, Jamaica – I just caught you laughing! Never mind that Don Anderson said you were fed up with politics and over 50 per cent of you were not planning to vote. Never mind that you are saying life is harder than it was last year. Okay, so if you don’t laugh you will cry — that is reason enough.

Well I got so giddy that I had the nerve to put up a link to the Observer story in which US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was “heartened and pleased” about her relationship with Jamaica. It did not go over well. Seems that we can laugh at Jamaica, curse Jamaica, but be very careful how we praise Jamaica.

I have been writing this column long enough to get barbs from both sides of the political fence. No party in opposition seems to be able to tolerate any good news about their country. How will they ever fathom that shooting down Jamaica is shooting their own selves squarely in the foot? Lighten up, folks – this is the US secretary of state saying we’re getting a handle on our economy!

JIS reports: “‘I look back now and what Jamaica has accomplished in financial and economic terms is very impressive and commendable,’ Clinton said.”

The report continues, “With respect to the fight against crime and drug trafficking, she described Jamaica’s approach as encouraging. ‘I think the way that Jamaica has confronted some of the issues of crime and violence, and particularly the challenges from drug cartels, is quite encouraging as well,’ she said, noting that there are many other issues that both countries are working on together.”

Come on now, Jamaica. We had a huge and justified quarrel with our leaders and took them before a Commission of Enquiry. They were hauled over the coals and wore the sackcloth and ashes of caustic cartoons, Mutty’s cynical laughter and hours of talk-show tongue-lashing. What came out is that they got too weak at the knees over an extradition order issued by the USA. When they belatedly agreed to the order we saw what they had been fearing: two police stations firebombed, a community circled with homemade bombs, policemen ambushed and killed.

I do not know one Jamaican who did not feel disappointment with our leadership and shock at the insurrection of an armed militia against our state. There is definitely important unfinished business: we need the report on the deaths of those 73 people from the office of the public defender. There are too many rumours and accusations — we need to know the facts.

In the meanwhile, we who are trying to meet payday and honour our innumerable financial obligations had better not become mired in the negative talk around the country and our leaders. Being negative is the simplest way to opt out of doing anything positive or productive. Indeed it is the perfect cop-out for the lazy and mean-spirited.

We do ourselves a big disfavour when we refuse to be optimistic about our future. TIME magazine recently featured excerpts from The Optimism Bias, by Tali Sharot.

“To make progress, we need to be able to imagine alternative realities — better ones – and we need to believe that we can achieve them,” she writes. “Such faith helps motivate us to pursue our goals. Optimists in general work longer hours and tend to earn more. Economists at Duke University found that optimists even save more. And although they are not less likely to divorce, they are more likely to remarry – an act that is, as Samuel Johnson wrote, the triumph of hope over experience.

“Even if that better future is often an illusion, optimism has clear benefits in the present,” believes Sharot. “Hope keeps our minds at ease, lowers stress and improves physical health. Researchers studying heart-disease patients found that optimists were more likely than non-optimistic patients to take vitamins, eat low-fat diets and exercise, thereby reducing their overall coronary risk. A study of cancer patients revealed that pessimistic patients under the age of 60 were more likely to die within eight months than non-pessimistic patients of the same initial health, status and age.”

Well then, may we just take a moment to rekindle that life-saving hope? It may mean a resolve to reorganise one’s thoughts and one’s life. It means that those of us who write the headlines, the speeches and the lyrics have a responsibility to keep hope alive. We dumb-down our perspective when all we can find to say about ourselves is negative and destructive.

Employment is a huge challenge right now. We should be encouraging our youngsters to study the lives of successful Jamaicans, most of whom pounded the pavement to make that first sale and saved furiously, depriving themselves of life’s luxuries, so they could build their businesses. Winners of the Jamaica Observer Business Leader Awards are ordinary Jamaicans with extraordinary discipline and vision, fuelled by unlimited optimism.

So we chuckle at the “twang” of St Thomas man Clifton Brown. He became a household word because he stepped up to the mike to make a plea for his community. “In spite of the video clip, the music, the dub plate, my main concern is the bridge,” Brown told the Observer on Wednesday. “Because as I said, when it rains people can’t go nowhere.” We can use our time to tear down Bruce and Portia, or we can step up and do something positive. The choice is ours, but the least we can do is to allow Jamaica a pat on the back when she deserves it.

Stay strong, Buju.

We who have received so much comfort from Buju Banton’s lyrics wish him a successful appeal against his imprisonment. The English poet Richard Lovelace wrote: “Stone walls do not a prison make, /Nor iron bars a cage; /Minds innocent and quiet take /That for an hermitage.” We hope Buju will use this difficult time to meditate and create. Stay strong.

lowriechin@aim.com

www.lowrie-chin.blogspot.com