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Anywhere better than yard <DIV class=KonaBody>
I was thinking the other day about the fact that Jamaicans migrate so often, about why we never really seem to want to stay 'home'. Even when Jamaica was a much better place, before today's politicians made it a place where very few would want to live, foreign has always seemed greener to us Jamaicans.
Some have found, however, that 'farin' as we like to call it, can sometimes be like that chick you see on the street looking so absolutely fine from behind only to be confronted with horrors when she turns around. Still, despite these realities we never ever seem content with where we live.
During the 1950s and '60s, thousands of Jamaicans fled for Great Britain and the United Statesseeking a better way of life. Mark you, we were still using the pound back then and Jamaica was 'nice'. Food was cheap, there was virtually no crime, Jamaica was among the largest producers of sugar, bauxite and pineapples in the world and we had the best beaches and the best tourismproduct.
Still, many fled to countries where racism was rampant and many Jamaicans lived like second class citizens or worse, but somehow to them, living like that was better than living at home.
We are so affected by 'farin' that some people even start to develop accents the minute they step onto a plane, no matter where that plane is going. We have all heard stories at one time or the other about how a plane takes off from Kingston and lands inMontego Bay and a man is ready to step off the plane with his brand new accent even though he has yet to leave the country.
There are even those people who go abroad for a week and return sounding like they've been living abroad all their lives. We pick up the phrases and use them out of context to the point of being an embarrassment, but we don't care, so long as we are using the latest slang from 'farin'.
The mouse club
During my time in high school, if you did not visit Disney Worldor fly to New York for the holidays, you really did not have a great summer. We Jamaicans are so in love with 'farin' that during the 1970s we did not need an excuse to flee to Miami when the JLP was trying to convince the populace that Manleywas going communist. We were leaving by the plane load. It was like the Mariel exodus from Cuba, only it was by air. The minute something goes wrong, we are looking towards the airport. Somehow, Jamaicans never seem pre-disposed to staying behind and fighting the good fight.
The thing is now, we are everywhere. We are all over the Caribbean, in the UK, Europe, Asia, Alaska, North, Central and South America, and I am sure there are a few of us near or at the North and South Poles. We are everywhere. For example, half of the population in Clarendon is here in Saint Maarten. And no matter how bad things get, no matter how many buildings get blown up, no matter how many bombs explode, no matter how many immigration officers we have to be hiding from, Jamaicans never think of returning to Jamaica because to us Jamaicans, foreign is home.
Comments, reactions, send to shearer39@gmail.com.</DIV>
I was thinking the other day about the fact that Jamaicans migrate so often, about why we never really seem to want to stay 'home'. Even when Jamaica was a much better place, before today's politicians made it a place where very few would want to live, foreign has always seemed greener to us Jamaicans.
Some have found, however, that 'farin' as we like to call it, can sometimes be like that chick you see on the street looking so absolutely fine from behind only to be confronted with horrors when she turns around. Still, despite these realities we never ever seem content with where we live.
During the 1950s and '60s, thousands of Jamaicans fled for Great Britain and the United Statesseeking a better way of life. Mark you, we were still using the pound back then and Jamaica was 'nice'. Food was cheap, there was virtually no crime, Jamaica was among the largest producers of sugar, bauxite and pineapples in the world and we had the best beaches and the best tourismproduct.
Still, many fled to countries where racism was rampant and many Jamaicans lived like second class citizens or worse, but somehow to them, living like that was better than living at home.
We are so affected by 'farin' that some people even start to develop accents the minute they step onto a plane, no matter where that plane is going. We have all heard stories at one time or the other about how a plane takes off from Kingston and lands inMontego Bay and a man is ready to step off the plane with his brand new accent even though he has yet to leave the country.
There are even those people who go abroad for a week and return sounding like they've been living abroad all their lives. We pick up the phrases and use them out of context to the point of being an embarrassment, but we don't care, so long as we are using the latest slang from 'farin'.
The mouse club
During my time in high school, if you did not visit Disney Worldor fly to New York for the holidays, you really did not have a great summer. We Jamaicans are so in love with 'farin' that during the 1970s we did not need an excuse to flee to Miami when the JLP was trying to convince the populace that Manleywas going communist. We were leaving by the plane load. It was like the Mariel exodus from Cuba, only it was by air. The minute something goes wrong, we are looking towards the airport. Somehow, Jamaicans never seem pre-disposed to staying behind and fighting the good fight.
The thing is now, we are everywhere. We are all over the Caribbean, in the UK, Europe, Asia, Alaska, North, Central and South America, and I am sure there are a few of us near or at the North and South Poles. We are everywhere. For example, half of the population in Clarendon is here in Saint Maarten. And no matter how bad things get, no matter how many buildings get blown up, no matter how many bombs explode, no matter how many immigration officers we have to be hiding from, Jamaicans never think of returning to Jamaica because to us Jamaicans, foreign is home.
Comments, reactions, send to shearer39@gmail.com.</DIV>