Dear Editor,

This country is great and full of many riches bestowed on it by the God we’ve kept close for so long. We’re rich in faith, talent, wisdom, potential, courage, resilience, and more, including real estate.

This land is our inheritance from God. And I urge us to care for it because it is ours, our guarantee. America is not our guarantee. The rest of the world is not our guarantee. When the world outside falls apart, this is the place provided by God to be our default, our security. When no one wants us, and they turn us away at their borders, this is the place provided by God for us to come back to. Look at what’s happening in the US: mass deportations and anti-immigration. Those who would once seek out a greener pasture in that country are less likely to find it now. Now is the time to make it “the greener pasture”.

Put down the weapons and the brutality, make Jamaica the safe place to be so that my children and your children can play in the streets; so that we can play dominoes on the corner and walk down our streets without anxiety; so that we can all live to a ripe old age; and so that we can praise our God with fearfulness. Take up something that will make this country better. Occupy your hands and your time with building up this country. Because if Jamaica is better, then you are better as a citizen of it. If Jamaica is safe, you are safe — and your children and your parents and your friends and the people you love. You are bright, smart, creative, capable of so much more than what life with a gun or any weapon can give you. Put it down. Destroy it so that it doesn’t destroy you and the great potential God put in you to do wonderfully good things in this country and this world.

Put down the politics. Yes, participate, vote, but don’t make politics the weapon that destroys our country. Because if we let it, what will we do then? Is politics a place? Can you live in it? Can your children play in its streets? Can you build your house there? Can you grow food in it to feed yourself? Can you run to it to keep you safe in a storm or danger? Politics is abstract. You give to it but it gives nothing back. It won’t be there when you need it. You can’t touch it, feel it, or see it. We only give that kind of faith to the God who answers prayers, secures us, strengthens us, provides for us, and accompanies us. God is real and He gives us this land (not politics) as the place to live in, play in, build in, grow in. Take care of it.

Put down the selfishness, greed, hate, nastiness, lies, and all the things that seek to destroy our inheritance because Jamaica’s betterment stands to benefit us all. Let a Jamaican passport mean something good when you take it to the airport or seek opportunities in the world or raise your voice. Give them no reason to say Jamaicans are thieves, killers, liars, untidy, or all the ways the world may choose to see us. Give them more reasons to say Jamaicans are brilliant, talented, strong, decent, and blessed. Give them more reasons to celebrate us than to shun us. Put Jamaica first.

Where are we going to go if we destroy it? Who is going to let us in if we let it get to the point at which we have to escape the destruction we made by risking our lives on boats to foreign lands that may not accept us? Who is going to take us in?

Every business owner should ensure that the communities, or at least the spaces, in which he/she operates is clean and safe. You have gained so much from that community. It’s time to give back. Paint the wall, fix the potholes, clean-up the garbage, put up a camera, help a family, provide more jobs. Give people less reasons to steal and kill for a living by paying higher wages, and if possible, make work more attractive and flexible without the 9-5 hassle or rigid workplace culture.

Every individual should follow the laws and rules that are designed to create a safe and orderly society. Be good even when no one is looking. Be what pleases God.

Remember, God loves you, Jamaica.

L Miss

upursuejamaica@gmail.com