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Instrument of peace
Michael Burke
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Once again, there are cries for an end to killings as the bloodletting is on the rise again. In the first of the three debates before the general elections, a question about gun-related crimes was posed to Dr Peter Phillips. He replied that whenever there are wars in the world, illegal guns are on the rise. Dr Phillips is correct. There are many instances when the guns being used in wars in whatever part of the world are sold illegally by some soldiers. It does seem as if Jamaica has taken precautions, as we do for hurricanes.
In the case of hurricanes, we batten down, make sure we have the sort of food that does not need refrigeration, and we make sure that we have new batteries for our flashlights and so on. For the problem of crime we have to take a different sort of precaution but we have to look at the problem in the same way. We cannot stop crime simply by wishing it would go away any more than we can stop a hurricane by the same method.
In faith, Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the author of peace in the world. We will be reminded of this at Christmas. The channel for peace is development. And development is not really about infrastructure such as buildings and highways. It is not about cars and technological gadgets like computers and cell phones. It is about empowering people. This is what the late Pope Paul VI meant when he implied that development is a new name for peace. These sentiments were expressed in his encyclical Populorum Progressio in 1967.
Throughout many parts of the Christian world, particularly in Roman Catholic countries, today is being celebrated as the feast of St Francis of Assisi. John Francis Bernardone, a Roman citizen, lived between September 26, 1181 and October 3, 1226. He founded an order of brothers and an order of sisters known as the order of Friars Minor and also the Poor Clares, an order of nuns. Today there are many religious orders which carry a variation of St Francis of Assisi.
The prayer Lord make me an instrument of thy peace has been attributed to St Francis of Assisi but historians can trace the prayer only to 1912 when it was found written on the back of a picture of St Francis. The prayer was nevertheless popularised by the Roman Catholic Church in New York and is known all over the world. Mother Teresa of Calcutta also did much to popularise the prayer by having the Missionaries of Charity recite the prayer every day.
The prayer and hymn is one of petition, asking to be the one to bring love, pardon, faith, hope, light and joy to people where such virtues are lacking. And the unknown author of the prayer also asks the Divine Master to be allowed to console, be understanding, love, give pardon and realise that we can only receive eternal life by dying. I am addressing politicians today to request of them to do what they can to bring about peace. And I request that they use the methods of development in the sense of empowerment to achieve this.
The excesses by the Jamaican police are reminiscent of the Roman tax collectors. In those days in Jerusalem, they went from door to door and bullied the people for money for taxes.
The tax collectors would take more than the required tax, "gave to Caesar what belonged to Caesar" and "pocketed" the rest. For this reason, there was always tension between the ordinary citizens of Jerusalem and the tax collectors.
Why do we create a system that allows the police to harass taxi drivers? The fact is that they provide a service because JUTC is not enough, as commendable as the system may be. The so-called robot operators also need to make a living. Many times when you talk to them, they speak about the need to buy their children's schoolbooks. Why can't the government go into a special insurance for robot operators? Certainly, this would be one way to bring peace.
The Opposition People's National Party has begun its evaluation of the recently held general election with a view to finding out why they lost. As extensive as their research might be, I suggest they factor into it the treatment of taxi operators. From what I could glean, the majority of them were vexed with what they go through daily in dealing with the police, especially their demands for bribes. And in the perception of most of them, the police were sent to do that by those who held political power.
Whenever motor vehicle penalties and taxes are increased, the police increase their demand in bribes from the robots.
This sort of thing certainly does not bring peace. And while on the topic, I ask the new government to re-introduce the school buses. It never worked before because the school buses were a part of the JUTC. Every time the schools were on holidays the school buses would be used for the regular passengers, ostensibly on a temporary basis until school started again. But when the new school terms began, it was difficult to bring the buses back to their original use.
This time around the school buses should come under the Ministry of Education.
Michael Burke
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Once again, there are cries for an end to killings as the bloodletting is on the rise again. In the first of the three debates before the general elections, a question about gun-related crimes was posed to Dr Peter Phillips. He replied that whenever there are wars in the world, illegal guns are on the rise. Dr Phillips is correct. There are many instances when the guns being used in wars in whatever part of the world are sold illegally by some soldiers. It does seem as if Jamaica has taken precautions, as we do for hurricanes.
In the case of hurricanes, we batten down, make sure we have the sort of food that does not need refrigeration, and we make sure that we have new batteries for our flashlights and so on. For the problem of crime we have to take a different sort of precaution but we have to look at the problem in the same way. We cannot stop crime simply by wishing it would go away any more than we can stop a hurricane by the same method.
In faith, Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the author of peace in the world. We will be reminded of this at Christmas. The channel for peace is development. And development is not really about infrastructure such as buildings and highways. It is not about cars and technological gadgets like computers and cell phones. It is about empowering people. This is what the late Pope Paul VI meant when he implied that development is a new name for peace. These sentiments were expressed in his encyclical Populorum Progressio in 1967.
Throughout many parts of the Christian world, particularly in Roman Catholic countries, today is being celebrated as the feast of St Francis of Assisi. John Francis Bernardone, a Roman citizen, lived between September 26, 1181 and October 3, 1226. He founded an order of brothers and an order of sisters known as the order of Friars Minor and also the Poor Clares, an order of nuns. Today there are many religious orders which carry a variation of St Francis of Assisi.
The prayer Lord make me an instrument of thy peace has been attributed to St Francis of Assisi but historians can trace the prayer only to 1912 when it was found written on the back of a picture of St Francis. The prayer was nevertheless popularised by the Roman Catholic Church in New York and is known all over the world. Mother Teresa of Calcutta also did much to popularise the prayer by having the Missionaries of Charity recite the prayer every day.
The prayer and hymn is one of petition, asking to be the one to bring love, pardon, faith, hope, light and joy to people where such virtues are lacking. And the unknown author of the prayer also asks the Divine Master to be allowed to console, be understanding, love, give pardon and realise that we can only receive eternal life by dying. I am addressing politicians today to request of them to do what they can to bring about peace. And I request that they use the methods of development in the sense of empowerment to achieve this.
The excesses by the Jamaican police are reminiscent of the Roman tax collectors. In those days in Jerusalem, they went from door to door and bullied the people for money for taxes.
The tax collectors would take more than the required tax, "gave to Caesar what belonged to Caesar" and "pocketed" the rest. For this reason, there was always tension between the ordinary citizens of Jerusalem and the tax collectors.
Why do we create a system that allows the police to harass taxi drivers? The fact is that they provide a service because JUTC is not enough, as commendable as the system may be. The so-called robot operators also need to make a living. Many times when you talk to them, they speak about the need to buy their children's schoolbooks. Why can't the government go into a special insurance for robot operators? Certainly, this would be one way to bring peace.
The Opposition People's National Party has begun its evaluation of the recently held general election with a view to finding out why they lost. As extensive as their research might be, I suggest they factor into it the treatment of taxi operators. From what I could glean, the majority of them were vexed with what they go through daily in dealing with the police, especially their demands for bribes. And in the perception of most of them, the police were sent to do that by those who held political power.
Whenever motor vehicle penalties and taxes are increased, the police increase their demand in bribes from the robots.
This sort of thing certainly does not bring peace. And while on the topic, I ask the new government to re-introduce the school buses. It never worked before because the school buses were a part of the JUTC. Every time the schools were on holidays the school buses would be used for the regular passengers, ostensibly on a temporary basis until school started again. But when the new school terms began, it was difficult to bring the buses back to their original use.
This time around the school buses should come under the Ministry of Education.