Tweet
Jamaica can rise from the ashes
Wignall's WorldMark Wignall
Sunday, January 27, 2008
"They told me I was too young. They told me I didn't have enough money and that I couldn't do this, that I don't have the wisdom, the strength, or the experience. They told me I would never come back home."
So said 23-year-old Jamaican-born Barrington Irving in June last year when he became the world's youngest and first black person to have set two world records by flying solo around the globe.
Irving grew up and was schooled abroad. We would have much preferred to make the claim that Irving grew up in Rema, or Flanker or Cherry Gardens or Tivoli Gardens. It is possible that because of the good parenting the youngster received he would have succeeded anywhere in the world.
That seems unlikely though, given that names such as Erik Lindbergh, Steve Fossett and Dick Rutan (brother to the preeminent aviation visionary in the world today, Bert Rutan) leaders in the field of aviation, all Americans, having no need to live anywhere else, fully supported Irving's monumental effort and success.
In a Lincair Colombia 400 single-engine plane which he fittingly named Inspiration, Irving flew across four continents, clocking more than 130 hours of flight time on a 97-day, 26,800-mile trip that included stops in the Azores, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Dubai, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.
When it happened, I was contacted by a very bright young journalist who wanted to know why our big businessmen and marketing specialists had not pounced on it and made attempts to brand Irving as Jamaican, right beside their products. Many months later it would have dawned on me that Irving probably had that sewn up already, with the Americans.
IRVING. became the world's youngest and first black person to have set two world records by flying solo around the globe
My focus here, though, is that in a society flushed with too many dysfunctions we need to highlight the little spots of light even as we comment on the daily grind.
Thirteen years ago, Professor Steve Hanke reiterated some of what our own esteemed Carl Stone had written in the late 1960s before he took his PhD. Said Hanke in a 1995 study titled, Alternative Monetary Regimes for Jamaica: 'In the last 25 years, Jamaica has fallen further and further behind economically developed countries.
Jamaica has had almost no economic growth per person, while developed countries have grown two per cent or more per person a year on average. In the 1950s and 1960s, it seemed that Jamaicans would slowly catch up to the standard of living that West Europeans or Americans enjoy. Since the 1970s, that goal has faded into the distance.
'The consequences have been harmful to Jamaica. Slow economic growth has contributed to unemployment and emigration of talented Jamaicans to other countries. It has affected the health of Jamaicans by allowing malnutrition and the incidence of certain diseases to be more frequent than they would be if Jamaica were richer.
And it has kept Jamaica a laggard in fields that require a foundation of considerable wealth: higher education, scientific and technical research, advanced manufacturing, communications, medicine - the growth industries of the coming century.
'Slow economic growth has also contributed to discontent and social unrest. Jamaica's politicians are dancing on a volcano. Unless they can deliver a sound currency and sustained economic growth, an eruption is bound to occur.'
That study was conducted on the eve of the meltdown of the financial sector. At that time inflation was deflating money sitting down in banks and the pressure on the exchange rate was on in earnest. Much water has passed under the bridge since then, but I have seen nothing to indicate that the life of the typical Jamaican in 2008 has become significantly better that in 1995.
Jamaica has produced Bob Marley, Reggae 'prophet' to the world. Because of this the name 'Jamaica' is known globally. We may have done poorly in fully capitalising on brand Jamaica, especially where it relates to Reggae music, but the time is ripe for our entertainment entrepreneurs to make that bold move. Our sprint athletes have made us the number one country (per capita) in the world in this category.
A JAMAICAN FOR OUTER SPACE
Earlier this month a friend e-mailed me the following:
'Jamaican heads NASA team on space station expansion project.
'When the Discovery space shuttle heads into space this month it will carry a special package 'gift-wrapped' by a Jamaican-born engineer and his team at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States.
'Glenn Chin is NASA mission manager charged with delivering a Node 2 module called Harmony that will expand the docking area at the International Space Station to accommodate other space programmes. Chin heads a multi-disciplined team of 30 to 40 engineers and technicians at NASA, which is involved in the testing, integration and assembly processes that will make Harmony ready for launch inside "Discovery's" cargo bay on the morning of October 23. Once installed at the space station, Harmony will serve as a port for space programmes from China and a combined 13 European countries.
'Harmony is a module with six docking ports where modules can dock to make the station bigger," explained the 43-year-old Chin, who attended high schools in Jamaica and the US and college at the University of Miami, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering.'
We have been told that in excess of 85% of Jamaicans who are graduates of tertiary institutions reside outside of the borders of the country, which needs them the most. We have not made this country into a Singapore, so our brighter Jamaicans are forced to flee our shores to build other countries while relatives and the government eagerly await their remittances.
That said, something still must be right when parents like Dorothy and Reggie Lee Chin can produce a Glenn, a Jamaican to remind us of the possibilities for those of us who believe that high achievement is impossible in these times.
REWRITE OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM
Has it ever occurred to us that many of the better suggestions on rebuilding Jamaica, from the seemingly mundane to that which would have national import, tend to come from those Jamaicans residing outside of our shores?
I believe that nothing edifies like that process of removing oneself from the heart of the problem, looking at all which connects to it and thus gaining a new insight on what is causing the pain.
Of course Jamaicans living abroad have a jump start on us because they usually live in viable societies, that is cities and towns where law, order, physical and social infrastructure work 95% of the time. They have that comparison which we do not have.
One such Jamaican who lives in Canada, a reader of my columns has sent me the following:
'The comments in your last column have revived something that I had thought about long ago. This thinking that prayers and God will solve everything is part of the ethos of Jamaica. It has failed us miserably!
'My belief is that it became firmly entrenched when we became independent and adopted the National Anthem, composed by Rev Hugh Sherlock (Lightbourne?) in 1962. For a new nation, all that the "brains" could produce was what really amounts to a national prayer instead of a solid mission with vision for the future. The anthem is dull, out of date, and non-inspiring.
It did not place the destiny and future of Jamaica in the hands of its people but perpetuated the hangover from the days of slavery that only God can uplift them from servitude. After 45 years and counting, Jamaica is poor and riddled with crime. It is time for an anthem with lyrics that speak of the aspiration of Jamaicans.
'The anthem could become the cheapest means to arouse the nation towards creativity, hard work, diligence, hope, and harmonious living. Similar to the festival song, a national competition could provide many sources from which to produce the final product. This could be a golden opportunity for Golding to pursue and possibly sparkle like gold!'
It is my belief that Sherlock and Lightbourne were excellent Jamaicans for their times. I agree with the reader that our anthem is uninspiring and outdated. Another reader wrote that the section which said 'keep us free from evil powers' must be in reference to 'science' or obeah.
Political pragmatism would tend to suggest that the JLP government would be pinned to a cross should it make the attempt to rewrite the National Anthem. The Christian community would excommunicate Prime Minister Golding, and the PNP, seeing a game of politics open for the taking, would wade in and complete tearing the flesh from the JLP administration.
The reader's points are well taken, but petty politics will win the day.
The same reader has sent me a bit of trivia, which I now share with you. Under the title, 'a few of the new words added to the Oxford English Dictionary' is the following: cotch . n. Jamaican - a place to rest temporarily.
I am sorry that the Oxford people did not confer with more of us. 'Cotch' is also a verb, as in 'A gwine cotch ova dey so.' The Oxford Dictionary understood only 'A get a cotch ova dey so' but they missed its use as a verb. Good start, though. Big up Jamaica!
Bring on religious tourism and casinos too
At the recent annual prayer fest where casino gambling was condemned, as was expected, a punch was made for religious tourism. That had my full agreement because as a child, I can remember how women, that sweeter, softer, more emotional side of homo sapiens would flock to the various 'conventions' where they would indulge themselves in getting closer to their god, otherwise known as God.
While I confess that I see high comedy in these emotional gatherings where religious people, especially women, immerse themselves fully in the 'party', the prayer and the singing, the fact is, religion, 'churchifying' and going to conventions are all realities which will be with us until the cow jumps over the moon.
I cannot define another person's God for him, for her. If a large mass of like-minded people want to take a cruise or take a trip to Jamaica to attend a convention being held in say, Montego Bay, why should we deny them this opportunity? And if we are not hosting these international conventions, the question is, why not?
One reader wrote the following as a comment on the church being against casino gambling:
1) 'The first time I ever gambled was at a "penny sale" at the Catholic Church in Brown's Town, St Ann.....at six years old. (Incidentally, I won a camera and a thermos, and they both leaked.)
2) Manley got the Protestant churches stridently behind him in opposing the national lottery and Seaga. Yet, not one of them complained when the PNP gave a lottery licence to Howard Hamilton, a leading member of the PNP's National Executive.
3) The Chairman of the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission can speak to the number of games of chances he approves monthly, for companies promoting their products through these means. Not a word from the church.
4) Jamaica has more betting shops that are opened every day, (and caters to the man least able to afford it), than most countries in the world....no protest from the church.
5) What Supreme Ventures does at the Hilton, Acropolis, Mo Bay and soon to be in May Pen, has every game that can be found in a Casino, except table games - not a word from the church.
6) The government rents the park next to Jamaica House - frequently, for some of the largest bingo games held in Jamaica - not a word from the church.
'I could go on, but I think you get the picture.......maybe the better word would have been HYPOCRITICAL.
'Maybe Casinos could afford a new opportunity for securing more equity, and a deal where our share would go to educating the people, so that we can better protect our interests and realise that it is CHOICE, and not CHANCE, that determines destiny.'
The pièce de résistance came from a female commentator and a regular letter writer to the newspapers. She wrote:
'You know what baffles me about this irrational fear of the casinos? (irrational since no valid argument has been advanced to show the effects) I see the Bahamas hosting mega-church conventions in the same hotels with the mega-casinos. All the biggies, TD Jakes, Joyce Meyers and the rest of them gladly spend their dollars on rooms and shopping in the Bahamas, and right there in the Crystal Palace (and Casino), the most renowned for church conventions! Yet, the Bahamas does not seem to be suffering from Jamaica's afflictions and there does not seem to be a national gambling problem.
The citizens of that Commonwealth enjoy a superior quality of life compared to the majority of Jamaicans, and I don't hear the church there, or anywhere else for that matter, advancing these baseless arguments about the nexus between casinos and crime. You could connect crime to anything you want. Perhaps the dancehall culture contributes more than legitimising casinos ever could. And come to think of it, what happens in those "gaming houses" operating around the island? I'm surprised these have not been "noticed".'
Jamaica is ripe for new thinking, new direction. We need to exorcise the 'duppies' in our mind before we can begin to think more clearly. Casino gambling will not suddenly make us into the damned of the earth. I am told that Singapore, that economic wonder of the East, gets nine million tourists per year with a population of three million. Singapore is projecting that in another two years it will be taking in double that number of tourists. Why?
It is about to introduce casino gambling. As the reader previously stated, it is choice and not chance that determines destiny. What choice will we make now to boost our tourist intake?
observemark@gmail.com
Wignall's WorldMark Wignall
Sunday, January 27, 2008
"They told me I was too young. They told me I didn't have enough money and that I couldn't do this, that I don't have the wisdom, the strength, or the experience. They told me I would never come back home."
So said 23-year-old Jamaican-born Barrington Irving in June last year when he became the world's youngest and first black person to have set two world records by flying solo around the globe.
Irving grew up and was schooled abroad. We would have much preferred to make the claim that Irving grew up in Rema, or Flanker or Cherry Gardens or Tivoli Gardens. It is possible that because of the good parenting the youngster received he would have succeeded anywhere in the world.
That seems unlikely though, given that names such as Erik Lindbergh, Steve Fossett and Dick Rutan (brother to the preeminent aviation visionary in the world today, Bert Rutan) leaders in the field of aviation, all Americans, having no need to live anywhere else, fully supported Irving's monumental effort and success.
In a Lincair Colombia 400 single-engine plane which he fittingly named Inspiration, Irving flew across four continents, clocking more than 130 hours of flight time on a 97-day, 26,800-mile trip that included stops in the Azores, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Dubai, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.
When it happened, I was contacted by a very bright young journalist who wanted to know why our big businessmen and marketing specialists had not pounced on it and made attempts to brand Irving as Jamaican, right beside their products. Many months later it would have dawned on me that Irving probably had that sewn up already, with the Americans.
IRVING. became the world's youngest and first black person to have set two world records by flying solo around the globe My focus here, though, is that in a society flushed with too many dysfunctions we need to highlight the little spots of light even as we comment on the daily grind.
Thirteen years ago, Professor Steve Hanke reiterated some of what our own esteemed Carl Stone had written in the late 1960s before he took his PhD. Said Hanke in a 1995 study titled, Alternative Monetary Regimes for Jamaica: 'In the last 25 years, Jamaica has fallen further and further behind economically developed countries.
Jamaica has had almost no economic growth per person, while developed countries have grown two per cent or more per person a year on average. In the 1950s and 1960s, it seemed that Jamaicans would slowly catch up to the standard of living that West Europeans or Americans enjoy. Since the 1970s, that goal has faded into the distance.
'The consequences have been harmful to Jamaica. Slow economic growth has contributed to unemployment and emigration of talented Jamaicans to other countries. It has affected the health of Jamaicans by allowing malnutrition and the incidence of certain diseases to be more frequent than they would be if Jamaica were richer.
And it has kept Jamaica a laggard in fields that require a foundation of considerable wealth: higher education, scientific and technical research, advanced manufacturing, communications, medicine - the growth industries of the coming century.
'Slow economic growth has also contributed to discontent and social unrest. Jamaica's politicians are dancing on a volcano. Unless they can deliver a sound currency and sustained economic growth, an eruption is bound to occur.'
That study was conducted on the eve of the meltdown of the financial sector. At that time inflation was deflating money sitting down in banks and the pressure on the exchange rate was on in earnest. Much water has passed under the bridge since then, but I have seen nothing to indicate that the life of the typical Jamaican in 2008 has become significantly better that in 1995.
Jamaica has produced Bob Marley, Reggae 'prophet' to the world. Because of this the name 'Jamaica' is known globally. We may have done poorly in fully capitalising on brand Jamaica, especially where it relates to Reggae music, but the time is ripe for our entertainment entrepreneurs to make that bold move. Our sprint athletes have made us the number one country (per capita) in the world in this category.
A JAMAICAN FOR OUTER SPACE
Earlier this month a friend e-mailed me the following:
'Jamaican heads NASA team on space station expansion project.
'When the Discovery space shuttle heads into space this month it will carry a special package 'gift-wrapped' by a Jamaican-born engineer and his team at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States.
'Glenn Chin is NASA mission manager charged with delivering a Node 2 module called Harmony that will expand the docking area at the International Space Station to accommodate other space programmes. Chin heads a multi-disciplined team of 30 to 40 engineers and technicians at NASA, which is involved in the testing, integration and assembly processes that will make Harmony ready for launch inside "Discovery's" cargo bay on the morning of October 23. Once installed at the space station, Harmony will serve as a port for space programmes from China and a combined 13 European countries.
'Harmony is a module with six docking ports where modules can dock to make the station bigger," explained the 43-year-old Chin, who attended high schools in Jamaica and the US and college at the University of Miami, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering.'
We have been told that in excess of 85% of Jamaicans who are graduates of tertiary institutions reside outside of the borders of the country, which needs them the most. We have not made this country into a Singapore, so our brighter Jamaicans are forced to flee our shores to build other countries while relatives and the government eagerly await their remittances.
That said, something still must be right when parents like Dorothy and Reggie Lee Chin can produce a Glenn, a Jamaican to remind us of the possibilities for those of us who believe that high achievement is impossible in these times.
REWRITE OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM
Has it ever occurred to us that many of the better suggestions on rebuilding Jamaica, from the seemingly mundane to that which would have national import, tend to come from those Jamaicans residing outside of our shores?
I believe that nothing edifies like that process of removing oneself from the heart of the problem, looking at all which connects to it and thus gaining a new insight on what is causing the pain.
Of course Jamaicans living abroad have a jump start on us because they usually live in viable societies, that is cities and towns where law, order, physical and social infrastructure work 95% of the time. They have that comparison which we do not have.
One such Jamaican who lives in Canada, a reader of my columns has sent me the following:
'The comments in your last column have revived something that I had thought about long ago. This thinking that prayers and God will solve everything is part of the ethos of Jamaica. It has failed us miserably!
'My belief is that it became firmly entrenched when we became independent and adopted the National Anthem, composed by Rev Hugh Sherlock (Lightbourne?) in 1962. For a new nation, all that the "brains" could produce was what really amounts to a national prayer instead of a solid mission with vision for the future. The anthem is dull, out of date, and non-inspiring.
It did not place the destiny and future of Jamaica in the hands of its people but perpetuated the hangover from the days of slavery that only God can uplift them from servitude. After 45 years and counting, Jamaica is poor and riddled with crime. It is time for an anthem with lyrics that speak of the aspiration of Jamaicans.
'The anthem could become the cheapest means to arouse the nation towards creativity, hard work, diligence, hope, and harmonious living. Similar to the festival song, a national competition could provide many sources from which to produce the final product. This could be a golden opportunity for Golding to pursue and possibly sparkle like gold!'
It is my belief that Sherlock and Lightbourne were excellent Jamaicans for their times. I agree with the reader that our anthem is uninspiring and outdated. Another reader wrote that the section which said 'keep us free from evil powers' must be in reference to 'science' or obeah.
Political pragmatism would tend to suggest that the JLP government would be pinned to a cross should it make the attempt to rewrite the National Anthem. The Christian community would excommunicate Prime Minister Golding, and the PNP, seeing a game of politics open for the taking, would wade in and complete tearing the flesh from the JLP administration.
The reader's points are well taken, but petty politics will win the day.
The same reader has sent me a bit of trivia, which I now share with you. Under the title, 'a few of the new words added to the Oxford English Dictionary' is the following: cotch . n. Jamaican - a place to rest temporarily.
I am sorry that the Oxford people did not confer with more of us. 'Cotch' is also a verb, as in 'A gwine cotch ova dey so.' The Oxford Dictionary understood only 'A get a cotch ova dey so' but they missed its use as a verb. Good start, though. Big up Jamaica!
Bring on religious tourism and casinos too
At the recent annual prayer fest where casino gambling was condemned, as was expected, a punch was made for religious tourism. That had my full agreement because as a child, I can remember how women, that sweeter, softer, more emotional side of homo sapiens would flock to the various 'conventions' where they would indulge themselves in getting closer to their god, otherwise known as God.
While I confess that I see high comedy in these emotional gatherings where religious people, especially women, immerse themselves fully in the 'party', the prayer and the singing, the fact is, religion, 'churchifying' and going to conventions are all realities which will be with us until the cow jumps over the moon.
I cannot define another person's God for him, for her. If a large mass of like-minded people want to take a cruise or take a trip to Jamaica to attend a convention being held in say, Montego Bay, why should we deny them this opportunity? And if we are not hosting these international conventions, the question is, why not?
One reader wrote the following as a comment on the church being against casino gambling:
1) 'The first time I ever gambled was at a "penny sale" at the Catholic Church in Brown's Town, St Ann.....at six years old. (Incidentally, I won a camera and a thermos, and they both leaked.)
2) Manley got the Protestant churches stridently behind him in opposing the national lottery and Seaga. Yet, not one of them complained when the PNP gave a lottery licence to Howard Hamilton, a leading member of the PNP's National Executive.
3) The Chairman of the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission can speak to the number of games of chances he approves monthly, for companies promoting their products through these means. Not a word from the church.
4) Jamaica has more betting shops that are opened every day, (and caters to the man least able to afford it), than most countries in the world....no protest from the church.
5) What Supreme Ventures does at the Hilton, Acropolis, Mo Bay and soon to be in May Pen, has every game that can be found in a Casino, except table games - not a word from the church.
6) The government rents the park next to Jamaica House - frequently, for some of the largest bingo games held in Jamaica - not a word from the church.
'I could go on, but I think you get the picture.......maybe the better word would have been HYPOCRITICAL.
'Maybe Casinos could afford a new opportunity for securing more equity, and a deal where our share would go to educating the people, so that we can better protect our interests and realise that it is CHOICE, and not CHANCE, that determines destiny.'
The pièce de résistance came from a female commentator and a regular letter writer to the newspapers. She wrote:
'You know what baffles me about this irrational fear of the casinos? (irrational since no valid argument has been advanced to show the effects) I see the Bahamas hosting mega-church conventions in the same hotels with the mega-casinos. All the biggies, TD Jakes, Joyce Meyers and the rest of them gladly spend their dollars on rooms and shopping in the Bahamas, and right there in the Crystal Palace (and Casino), the most renowned for church conventions! Yet, the Bahamas does not seem to be suffering from Jamaica's afflictions and there does not seem to be a national gambling problem.
The citizens of that Commonwealth enjoy a superior quality of life compared to the majority of Jamaicans, and I don't hear the church there, or anywhere else for that matter, advancing these baseless arguments about the nexus between casinos and crime. You could connect crime to anything you want. Perhaps the dancehall culture contributes more than legitimising casinos ever could. And come to think of it, what happens in those "gaming houses" operating around the island? I'm surprised these have not been "noticed".'
Jamaica is ripe for new thinking, new direction. We need to exorcise the 'duppies' in our mind before we can begin to think more clearly. Casino gambling will not suddenly make us into the damned of the earth. I am told that Singapore, that economic wonder of the East, gets nine million tourists per year with a population of three million. Singapore is projecting that in another two years it will be taking in double that number of tourists. Why?
It is about to introduce casino gambling. As the reader previously stated, it is choice and not chance that determines destiny. What choice will we make now to boost our tourist intake?
observemark@gmail.com
Comment