The greatest act of courage performed by an American soldier during the Vietnam/American war that took place between 1965 to 1975 was, strangely, not conducted against the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) or the Viet Cong. Rather, it was conducted against American military forces.

On March 16, 1968, a company of American soldiers went on a killing spree, murdering over 500 women, children, and elderly men in a village called My Lai in southern Vietnam. An American army helicopter pilot named Hugh Thompson, who had come to give the soldiers air support, realised that a massacre was taking place.

He informed the members of Charlie Company that he would order his men to open fire on them from the helicopter if they did not cease their activities. They complied and the massacre ended. A trial followed. Corporal William Calley was convicted, and it took 30 years for the American Government to give Hugh Thompson a medal.

In the second World War, a British-born nurse named Edith Louisa Cavell treated German soldiers and allies alike in Nazi-occupied Belgium. She also assisted in the escape of over 200 allies from what was, in effect, certain death. She was executed for treason in Brussels during the war.

Jamaica’s Paul Bogle, having taken the decision to go to war with the British Government and the local elite in 1865, knew that death was imminent.

Once he went against Governor Eyre it was just a matter of time. In fact, the insurrection involved a ritual that was in keeping with a slave revolt that historically almost always ended in death.

Bogle was executed soon after, along with many others in the British retaliation. In the end, those killed totalled officially over 400 black citizens, but the actual number was about 1,500.

That type of self-sacrifice still occurs in our leadership, although with far less violent outcomes.

I recall Bruce Golding refusing to allow the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to continue to exist under Edward Seaga’s leadership and challenging him in the famous ‘Gang of Five’ Scandal in 1990. Golding felt, and I agree, that under Edward Seaga’s leadership the JLP would never have been able to win another general election, which would prevent the party from being a real Opposition.

I honestly believe that he knew what his actions would do to his career, but he made the challenge anyway.

Democratic countries require a strong Opposition to make them whole and protect the governed from the Government.

Former People’s National Party (PNP) Member of Parliament (MP) Danny Melville resigned from his seat in Parliament. Meanwhile, he informed the House of Representatives and Jamaica of his dissatisfaction with the performance of his own party, which was in power, in 2001. Melville’s actions took courage. That act ended his political career, but it was necessary.

It takes far more character to stand up to your allies than to your enemies. The massacre of Polish Jews by the German Nazis in World War II was and is a sore point in European and world history.

The slaughter resulted in hostility being generated towards German citizens for years after the war. A simple act (known as the Warsaw Genuflection) by German Chancellor Willy Brandt was the beginning of a long process. That process led the world to forgive the German people for the abject cruelty of a subset of their countrymen.

The historic act occurred during a visit to the shrine to the lives lost in the ‘Warsaw ghetto’. Brandt knelt and paid respects to the victims of his former Government.

The impact was incredible. I believe it represented his genuine regret for the suffering caused by his people.

It was not a popular gesture with Germans. However, additionally, if he had told anyone his plan — if it even was planned — it would likely have been discouraged.

The kind of humility and courage Brandt showed needs to be adopted by the leaders of our two political parties, on behalf of the thousands of lives lost during the Jamaican civil war of 1974 to 1980.

This war occurred because of the conduct of their former leaders.

We can go further, and have the leaders of both political parties refuse to represent garrison seats for the next general election.

In fact, the two persons looking to be the next minister of national security from both parties should do the same. Why? Their job to destroy organised crime requires them to have no association with any criminals or criminal activity.

There are only four persons that this provision would impact. Also, there are many rural seats that they can run for that do not have this type of entrenched garrison environment.

This must not be a law, but a position of principle and conscience.

Thompson and Cavell took decisions to save lives, Bogle to change the standard of living for Jamaicans then and for generations to come. Golding and Melville took a stand for the good of the country.

The decisions to be taken by our current leaders, whether they are Government or Opposition, are decisions of necessity and matters of conscience.

Can we really live with ourselves if we hand this mess to another generation?

The solutions to our problems are going to require political will. That means they are likely to be unpopular.

The blend of the two is likely to produce an unpopular leader in the short run.

Does anyone remember when former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, then finance minister, introduced the General Consumption Tax (GCT)?

Everyone was raising hell! Well, can you imagine the Jamaican economy now without the tax?

The great decisions of history were neither popular nor easy, self-serving nor selfish. But they were necessary.

I can think of five solutions to our scourge of killing that our present Government needs to implement now. None will be popular. All are likely to be harshly criticised by the Opposition, our international partners, the human rights community, and a bunch of people who just like to complain.

It is also likely that the solutions will cost the Government the next election.

These decisions will save lives. But saving lives is a matter of conscience.

Popular decisions are matters of politics.

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