Port Antonio sets the pace
Dear Editor,
At the risk of being repetitious, may I recall my previous letter to the editor at the start of this century on launching an assault on the growing unemployment facing our young men islandwide? I got the idea from the effect a few tins of paint have had in beautifying indiscriminate buildings islandwide, especially from the Wray & Nephew Bar on Upper King Street.
The workforce would be taken from the existing scores of unemployed young men who would be monitored by a senior professional painter, who would in turn teach the intricacies of painting at a ratio of one to 10.
The paint manufacturers, in appreciating the increase in sales, could be encouraged to offer a reduction in prices.
The parish councillors islandwide could undertake the task of identifying the young men and explaining the importance of learning a trade. The property owners would see the value in maintaining or increasing the value of their properties. And the young painters would learn the discipline of “waking to go to work”.
If tackled determinedly across the island, we would discover that we have found “work for idle hands” and our young men would have learnt the dignity which comes from awaking each day to “go to work”. Meanwhile, the spectacle of living in a brightly painted area cannot but enlarge self-esteem.
Can we just pause for a moment and visualise a colourfully painted Jamaica from north to south, east to west?
The experiment has already started in Port Antonio with its main street; who knows, we may yet come “to have true respect for all”.
Howard Hamilton, QC
Kingston