Dear Editor,

The month of May has once more ushered in the periodic spotlight which is to be shone on the plight of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens, our young. Indeed, the various challenges which ordinary Jamaican families encounter daily are in no way removed from the children within our communities. They are not spared the hardships of life on this “land we love”. Ironically, they are the ones who bear the brunt of the worst of human nature.

Thankfully, the plight of our distressed youth is not lost on many within the public and private spheres. The heart-rending cries which emanate daily from the community of the young do not fall solely on deaf ears – they are heard by many well-thinking Jamaicans who endeavour to engineer some change.

The challenges and difficulties are well documented, the issues are home-grown, and as such the solutions must start with us. It is with this in mind that as we attempt to care for our young, we must urge them to care for each other as well, we must sincerely urge our young boys to look out for our young girls, and our girls to look out for our boys. Nobody understands what it means to be young as well as the young do. While as caring adults we sincerely seek to do justice by the nation’s youth, we must bear in mind that policies and projects concerning the young must never be crafted or implemented – or both – without first consulting them; their views on problems affecting them and the possible solutions are essential to the process.

Noel Forbes Matherson

noelmatherson@gamil.com