Adding to everyday stresses and strains, Jamaicans must cope with negativity from every direction. For many of us, bad news just makes our sense of being unable to manage or, at best, having the to struggle to do so far worse. Such is the USA/Israel war with Iran, in which we have no part, but are forced to bear consequential soaring oil/gas prices and add-on effects on everything else.

Closer to home, the increasing reports of violence among students underline, we believe, mental health disorders afflicting people of all ages.

Clearly the impact and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, Category 5 Hurricane Melissa last October, and Hurricane Beryl 15 months earlier aggravated such issues.

Beyond question, the society needs to frontally address mental health challenges, which, experts suggest, largely drive conflict at domestic level and among people who know each other.

And while the police deserve applause for a dramatic decline in crime, particularly murders, the steep increase in police killings is a big worry.

The recent death of a 17-year-old in Granville, St James, has heightened long-running controversy. Protesting locals claim the teenager was killed by police though he had surrendered and posed no threat.

The police say a gun was taken from the body. The cry from the boy’s mother demands attention.

“Mi son surrendered to them. You tell the little man to hold up his hand and you still shoot him,” she charged.

Hopefully, a probe by the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) will get to the truth. Regardless, it is obvious that the rising number of disputed police shootings is eating away at the constabulary’s credibility.

That’s particularly disappointing given our impression that in recent years people at lower socio-economic levels had become far more receptive to the security forces than previously. We believe such progress partly resulted from police-led social outreach programmes.

As it relates to public trust, we believe recent comments from National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang claiming body-worn cameras are hindrances rather than practical tools for the police in high-risk operations have done no good.

As suggested by human rights and civil society groups, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness should make a clear, unequivocal statement regarding the Government’s stance on body-worn cameras.

It amounts to a serious accountability issue in our view.

This challenge again manifests in the issues relating to an internal audit of the National Blood Transfusion Service (Blood Bank) reported on by this newspaper on Tuesday.

We expect to hear from Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton and others on this important matter in short order.

However, responsible media can’t only focus on the negative. There’s also good news which uplifts the spirit, heightening morale and well-being. Published in our Tuesday edition is a piece about 20 young people — former wards of the State — who have earned first degrees after benefiting from scholarships offered by Supreme Ventures Foundation (SVF).

Note the comment from Mr Christopher Dawes, graduate of Shortwood Teachers’ College: “Without the assistance of the Supreme Ventures Foundation I’m not sure how I would have completed my studies. The…support gave us not only financial relief, but also a sense of assurance and motivation when we were feeling overwhelmed and uncertain…”

We believe that testimony should serve as a clarion call for the entire business sector.