IT’S been said that behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining, and that out of bad will come some good.

Is it possible that some good could come of this assault by the chikungunya virus?

We say this in the context of the national clean-up launched last week in Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s South West St Andrew constituency.

Mrs Simpson Miller led the way, and we note her appeal to parliamentarians to follow; and indeed her applause of Opposition Leader Andrew Holness for having pledged to lead a clean-up in his constituency.

More importantly we note the prime minister’s comment that “I hope that we will not only have the communities clean today, but persons will also ensure that their surroundings stay clean…”

That, we believe, is the crux of the matter.

If Jamaicans had ensured that their surroundings were clean the chik-V health crisis would surely not be as severe as it is now. We are aware that resource and organisational inadequacies contribute to garbage pile-up. But it is also a fact that far too many Jamaicans see nothing wrong with casually throwing garbage anywhere.

That’s why all around the communities there are strewn about such large quantities of tin cans, cardboard boxes, plastic bags and other debris which collect water and provide ideal breeding opportunities for the accursed Aedes aegypti mosquito.

That’s why no matter how often the gullies and drains are cleaned, within weeks they are clogged again.

That’s why on Coastal Clean-up Day in September environmentally conscious volunteers found themselves having so much work.

Residents make a horrendous mess and then seem unable or unwilling to connect the dots.

It’s a very peculiar aspect of Jamaican life that many people who consider themselves responsible will clean their yards and then throw the litter into the streets, drains and gullies.

Part of the problem is the use of language. Our leaders at the community and national levels will often refrain from calling a spade, a spade, out of an unwillingness to offend.

Yet it seems to us that there can be no escaping the hard reality. When people are nasty and unclean they should be told so. People should be told the simple, plain truth that, just as a dirty yard is demanding of shame, so are garbage-clogged streets, gullies and communities. It has to be the responsibility of every citizen to keep their surroundings clean.

What, by the way, has happened to the anti-litter law? Are the authorities so overwhelmed that they are unable to make examples of blatant offenders? Or is it that they do not care?

That aside, it seems to us that our politicians, the Jamaica Information Service, commercial media, church leaders, teachers, business leaders, community leaders of every description need to tell Jamaicans in simple language that nastiness has no place in civilised society. And further, that nastiness has dire consequences.

If the message is persistently and consistently delivered, we believe there will eventually be change for the better. Then, we would have seen some good from this chik-V outbreak.