Dear Editor,

At the recently held forum put on by the Economic Growth Council, its chairman, Michael Lee-Chin, relayed an anecdote of Jamaica’s lack of fortune which resembles the biblical parable of “the talents”, as told by Jesus.

However, there are worse-case scenarios. One is the reasonable loss or spending of the money that one has been made caretaker over. The other, which is more worrisome, and that we are increasingly seeing in Jamaica, is the actual or potential loss from deception, whether self-deception or deception inflicted by or unto others, both near and far.

Our nation is increasingly becoming “infested” with lies and liars. Unfortunately, the impact of lies on our economic standing is being ignored or underestimated. Deception is implicit in lotto scamming and uncertainty and volatility in financial investments. It is a major reason for some of our best and truth-inclined minds not to participate in our political process. It is partly why bureaucracy, which Lee-Chin cited as a growth-inhibiting factor, is so entrenched in our policies and operations.

Our social and business units and partnerships, including halls of justice, intimate relationships, customer and merchant confidence, are put under heavy and costly strain because of lies. Furthermore, we have much of our people who are “pretending” to be parenting, to be working, to be learning at school, or to care when they just don’t. Even having a good time has been hijacked. All this must add up to a large chunk of our gross domestic product and is partly why many of our Asian counterparts have been doing better economically than us and much of the rest of the world — they value honour, and one’s word is integral to that honour.

There is a joke of a man who had died and was so untruthful that even the devil refused him entry to hell. Although we would readily denounce the devil, we could really use some of his riches. After all, Jesus did encourage us to “be friends with Mammon”, but not to worship it, which perhaps, includes lying for it.

None of us is perfect, and we will slip up with the truth at times, but we will be left out in the cold or scorching heat if our culture and character do not improve in this regard.

Andre O Sheppy

Norwood, St James

astrangely@outlook.com