ADVENT, like the word Maranatha, means “the Lord is coming”. For Christians, the four weeks before Christmas is a time of preparation. And by this I am not referring to the presents, the decorations or the dinner. I am referring to the preparation for the season of the birth of Jesus Christ, who was born into a sinful world and came to show people the way to salvation. I am going to refer today to some of our social sins.

And, in so doing, I am grabbing the proverbial bull by the horn. My regular readers know that it is my style to write about certain milestones of which this year has seen plenty, especially political ones. Those who know me well know that I prefer to write on religious matters than any other topic. From the days when I was asked to switch from

being a religion columnist to current affairs (at the now defunct Jamaica Record),

I was determined to use the space available to me to

educate people, especially in current affairs and politics.

So, although I would have preferred to write four advent columns, we had the central Westmoreland by-election and Michael Manley’s 90th anniversary. Today marks 17 years since the PNP won a historic third term out of an even more historic four terms in office. But I am not making any further comment on that because I want to focus on the advent theme.

Tivoli Commission of Enquiry

Advent this year finds us in the middle of the enquiry into the security forces’ operation in Tivoli Gardens of May 2010. One really should not make any definitive comments until the enquiry is over. But, of note is that Lloyd D’Aguilar was asked to leave the enquiry; ostensibly because of behaviour. I am now hearing, though, that most of his negative comments on the proceedings were not made in the enquiry, but after.

I am also aware that it is an enquiry and not a court case. I heard on radio that when the chairman of the enquiry enters all are asked to stand. If this is not a courthouse where it is necessary to show might and power, especially to misbehaved persons, then why is this so? The learned former chief justice of Barbados is not acting in the capacity of a judge in the enquiry. Why has the enquiry been set up in such a way that it might be awesome to the witnesses?

And all of this is happening in Advent, right before we recall the birth of Jesus Christ.

Homosexuality

Advent comes at a time when homosexuals are living in a gully by New Kingston having been thrown out of the privately owned abandoned building in Barbican about a year ago. While their sexual activity is sinful in my ‘book’, they are still human beings and should be treated as such. What would Jesus Christ do? There are reports that many of them are thieves. Unfortunately that is what many unemployed people do, which is wrong even if they are not homosexuals.

I object to these homosexuals flaunting their lifestyle in public, which is all the more reason why housing should be found for them. In 2006, I wrote a song called song Man fi look like man. In my book, there should even be a law to enforce that people do not cross-dress because it is not fair to children to have homosexual values passed on to them.

But to be forced by circumstances to live in a gully where nasty residents near and far throw their garbage — albeit illegally — which washes down on them in rain is cruelty. The fact that they have to stand up for hours during rain, whether day or night, is cruelty. Punishment and cruelty are not the same.

The same goes for our prisons and our lock-ups. It is not good enough to say that had the people not done wrong they would not be in those situations.

New Year’s Resolutions

So next week Thursday is Christmas. After Christmas comes the time for new year resolutions, so let me suggest one or two. I do not encourage laziness, so let me address some who respond to my columns online. Those who ask if I cannot write a column without mentioning “Manley” should go to the National Library of Jamaica and research all of my columns for the last 26 years. They will find that the vast majority of columns never had any mention of any Manley. So one new year’s resolution that I suggest to my respondents online is to do research before commenting.

I have been accused of writing too much about the Manleys, too much about the Roman Catholic Church, too much about co-operatives, especially credit unions, too much about Jamaica College, and in my earlier columns too much about the environment. But I have written columns on about 40 different topics over the past 26 years.

Yes, I write a lot of history, although I do not hear many objections to that. Should there be a referendum on that one? But I humbly ask all those who respond to opinion pieces on the Internet that they please read the columns first and not just the headlines. If you choose to skip over something because it does not interest you, so be it.

I have written several times since the death of Michael Manley in 1997 that I do not advocate that he should be made a hero in my lifetime. Last week some of the respondents evidently just saw the question in the headline and commented, some insultingly, on a proposal that I never made.

And there are others who seem unable to respond unless it is laced with abuse. Many offer their congratulations to me via e-mail. They write that they are afraid of being “eaten alive” by the political hacks so they do not comment online.

So this could be the other new year’s resolutions for those involved in the reading of my columnn: Learn to agree or disagree without being abusive.

While preparing this piece I learnt of the passing of Ruel Taylor, who was acting and later principal of Jamaica College between 1970 and 1993. May his soul rest in peace.

ekrubm765@yahoo.com