SO, you were on the dance floor last night, doing your civic duty as good citizens, revisiting the past and raising the glass in the spirit of facing the year now beginning and reshaping history. I spent yesterday going through the files to look again at how 2015 dealt with us — and we with him/her. How much do you remember?

It is claimed that it was in September 2014 when CHIKV descended on us, same time almost as a missing plane mystery, still unsolved. There are many persons who are convinced that CHIKV is still here, handing out aches, pains and fever. His arrival also set off bad relations between the national health system and the public. The disaffection has not ended even now that we’ve come to twenty-sixteen. We may very well find ourselves in mix-up, as public health remains a source of dissension.

I find it most interesting that a young doctor, Alfred Dawes, took on the role of chief whistle-blower on what and what is wrong in our public health system, which needs urgent attention. An admiring public has nominated the brave young doctor to be their Man of the Year, but surprise, surprise, he has relocated to another country (The Bahamas). Will he be brought home to prove what he knows and be honoured? However, should he have stayed to help lead the charge on the problems, which he has so bravely revealed? Interesting!

Immigration affairs surfaced last year, bringing broken hearts and bad feelings when a born-a-Jamaica, live-a England member of the Diaspora family came to visit Yard but found himself locked out when he tried to return to Mother England. Things ain’t what they used to be. It took a long while for the puzzle to be solved and he was afforded the privilege of returning to his English domicile.

A year ago, we were lamenting the racket of selling “bad gas”. We raged and we stormed for something to be done. Talk about progress…One year later, to the day, the “bad gas” racket has emerged again. Question, “Why can’t it be stopped?” The same question was asked last year. It is being asked again. The more things change, the more they remain the same, don’t it?

At the start of 2015 it was said that, “The year would end with the highest murder rate over a four-year period.” Western parishes held the record, we were told. Blame was placed on the scammers. It was not an easy time for Police Commissioner Dr Carl Williams, who was only a year into his tenure. The Minister of National Security Peter Bunting, also took a beating. Nobody said it was going to be easy for politicians. Well, twenty-sixteen is here, and from leader to the led will soon find out.

Did we mention elections? A recent editorial in this newspaper has placed on record how they see the new year. The message was headlined ‘We’ll make 2016 what we will, as a people’.

Back to last May, US President Barack Obama came to town for a one-day visit. The perennial complainers found reason to complain. The rationale for disapproval of why money was spent to fix roads on which he was to travel. It seemed to have been “If we can drop in pothole, so too should he”. Since the US president was helicoptered from Palisadoes into the city, the fears were unfounded. Obama avoided knowledge of that unique Jamaican noun “kass-kass”, but took the time, instead, to see us from his own prospective. He had barely landed when he made an unheralded visit to the Bob Marley Museum, surprising the staff with his Bob-knowledge.

Next day, he was at UWI, Mona, for a town hall meeting greeting the “Massives”, speaking patois in which he obviously had been coached. By the next day, he fulfilled another couple of engagements and by late afternoon, got back into Air Force One, the most impressing piece of aeronautical engineering, which mainly our media had the opportunity to see at comparatively close range. Some people applauded the visit. Others were critical, as usual.

We were still into 2015 when “the wicked” struck, this time at a child. She went missing from her home, only to be found sometime later, dead. When the mystery of her death was solved, the horror was worse than could have been imagined. Age 14, it turned out that she, a mere child herself, was said to have been four months pregnant. The shock was even greater when it was reported that she was said to have been blackmailing a man with whom she was involved, and who she wanted to buy her a smartphone. Brought before the courts to answer criminal charges, he confessed, was declared guilty, and now serves a sentence of life without parole. I was never able to look at a picture of that little girl, as published in media, without feeling sick with horror and pain.

What is to become of our children? I couldn’t resist the headline for a column in which I asked us to consider ‘Robbing our children of life again’. Sadly, as 2015 continued, so did frequent other reports of missing children. Each story was, inevitably, one of abuse at the hands of adults, and sometimes even by sources charged with providing them with safety and security. The problem is not yet solved. Concerns for our maltreated children continue in different ways. Will we ever achieve what is right?

Fire, fire, fire and no water. May 2015 saw the hills and valleys of our beloved Blue Mountains smothered in smoke and the crackling sound of trees falling under the heat, especially bamboo burning and exploding like gunshots. For days and nights the inferno raged. Crops were damaged. Trees fell. The drought was on with a vengeance, in country and in town, making the task of control very challenging.

Water was scarce. Winds spread the smoke and the sparks beyond the mountains. Even the plains below were under siege. The Jamaica Fire Brigade worked long, hard, hot hours, while we, far from the scene, complained and complained. The Jamaica Defence Force’s committed helicopter teams who became the heroes of the day to grateful communities whose residents also played their part in helping as much and wherever as needed.

The popular sentiment in the wider nation was concern for the farmers, struggling with the loss of their livelihood, especially in the coffee industry. The destruction of vegetable crops and food staples, and the pine trees, especially cherished as ornamentals popular in the Christmas season, aroused speculation on how would the community fare in the marketplace. Thanks to the aid of Government, private sector and overseas partners, who pitched in with aid, despair was soon dispelled, sooner than expected. The recovery was amazing. Today, the Blue Mountain hills have healed. Life has returned to the fields and hope to the communities. Much knowledge has been gained for future use, said a community leader.

The drought did not release its grip so easily. Then, as now, some citizens refuse to accept any explanation about water shortage. It’s the Government’s fault, it has been said. The rains have returned to the hills and valleys, but there is still uncertainty about the future. Twenty-sixteen, be warned! The drought will return and so will the complaining, instead of co-operating and conserving. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is talking and planning how to handle climate change. Does it mean anything to us? Large areas of the US are drowning in unexpected winter floods, as we speak. Lives have been lost, property destroyed.

Residents are anxious about their future, but little complaining has been reported, so far. What is our vision for our country? Despite all efforts, we have stubbornly refused or avoided the need for active participation in programmes to preserve our environment, to save the land, the trees, the rivers and the seas, all of which are vital to our well-being. Why are “our ears so hard”? Yes, old-time peasant talk, but if we really don’t want to know, listen again, then be prepared for: “Those who won’t hear gwine feel.”

RESOLVED: Will we ever forget the fearful nights and days last March, when we wrestled with one of the most difficult environmental challenges coming from a breakdown of the garbage disposal system at Riverton dump? The aftermath brought many changes, from management to new procedures in response to the public’s demands for a safer and more efficient system. Things are quiet for now. Let us hope that there will continue to progress.

UNRESOLVED: What is really happening with the Goat Islands? To be or not to be? Apparently, not even Shakespeare could resolve this drama. Talking and argument have stilled, for reasons yet unknown.

Well, the new year is here. Let us, the people, know whether the curtain is going up or staying down, nuh!

Barbara Gloudon is a journalist, playwright and commentator. Send comments to the Observer or gloudonb@yahoo.com.