ST JAMES, Jamaica — Deputy Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon, is imploring Jamaicans to exercise social responsibility as they enjoy the freedom that our national heroes fought for many years ago.

“We enjoy a level of freedom today that we did not, many years ago, and I want to say to Jamaicans that this freedom that we enjoy, we should be responsible with it and I speak specifically to how we handle social media,” said Vernon.

This freedom, he reiterated, comes with a responsibility to be our brother’s keeper, as individuals aim to not only be responsible citizens of this country, but help whenever they see someone in need.

“We have a freedom, but we have a responsibility; our social responsibility and our social media and other media responsibilities. We [must] ensure that we do the right thing, share the information that we need to share and for example, in the case of an accident, you have to try to see how you can help rather than try to video it and to post it,” he said.

By exercising this responsibility, the deputy mayor said, the freedom that our national heroes fought for will be truly beneficial to our people, as a society.

“We have to be responsible so the freedom that we enjoy now, that they would have fought for, we have to protect it, we have to preserve it and we have to use it in the right way and that is what it means to be a free people,” he said.

This admonition came days after 17-year-old Lennon High School student Tristan Graham collapsed and died on his way home from school in May Pen, Clarendon. It was reported that instead of helping the promising young boy, individuals chose to capture pictures and videos as the youth begged for help.

Rochelle Clayton