An objective view of our situation

I am someone who sometimes sits for minutes, hours even, just thinking about the world's state of affairs. Many times my thoughts exceed my vocabulary. However, these few points I am about to discuss have been on my mind for some time and indeed it is time to share them.

Wherever we go, we are faced with the pssibility of violence and as such are "on edge" many times when we go out, or even when we visit other countries. Violence is no longer situated only in the ghetto, or under-privileged areas or only in Kingston anymore. Although it is a bad thing, yes and although we should not have to live like watch-dogs, it makes us more aware. Many things we once did we probably won't do anymore. The crime situation forces you to ever be alert and to learn to trust noone.

This also is a bad thing, as it may put some people in the edge, might drive them crazy. They may become to consumed with the idea of not being able to trust anyone fully and the possibility that every person you thought to be loyal is a potential criminal. The generation to come is there callous and we need to pray extensively, intensively and ceaselessly for Jamaica and the future of our country. We need not only pray but seek to find a way to rehabilitate the minds of the next generation. Some sort of mental-cleansing needs to take place. We need to instill in them the good old Jamaican values that some of us and our parents before us were brought up on. Indeed, maybe sparing the rod is spoiling the child.

Another concern of mine was the economic situation. Many persons think that it is the change in government that caused this economic decline. But how could the change from PNP to JLP affect the lives of all those in the world. I doubt Jamaica can have such a wide influence. People need to read and listen carefully and educate themselves and learn not to blame every hard time on the government. The economic crisis seems to be affecting Jamaica to a smaller extent than in America, the once powerful Uncle Sam is now a shadow of his former self, the glory days are gone and the days of survival are upon us. We need to watch every dollar, spend wisely and save even more wisely.

In Zimbabwe they have printed a TRILLION dollar note now, and are in the process of printing 10, 20, 30 and 50 TRILLION dollar notes. We need to acknowledge how bad our situaion is, but also keep in mind that there are many other persons who have situation worse than ours. Very few goods are available for purchase in Zimbabwe's local currency. One trillion of Zimbabwe's dollars is only THIRTY US DOLLARS.

Many of us may laugh at this. But can you not see Jamaica slowly approaching a similar situation. The continuous fall of the dollar is making ZImbabwe's situation seem more of a reality. The economic status of any nation can be determined by the highest note they have in their local currency. This is my opinion and if we examine the notes of different countries, then we can see that this is true. Most countries with a good/ favourable economic situation has their highest note being a 100 dollar bill, but by passing that 100 dollar bill mark one has exceeded the level at which a good economic situation would be at.

Analysts and financial personnel have proposed that this year will be worse than 2008 and that we will see harder times and more "big time" businesses will face closure. They also predict that the world cannot sufficiently recover from this economic melt-down until 2012. Well time will indeed tell what the future holds. However, we can see that what they have predicted oozes some amount of truth as Circuit City (in USA) is to close all their 597 stores due to financial difficutlties. The English company that has dominated the crockery, crystal and fine dining industries for over 200 years, Waterford, are threatened with closure or divestment.

We need to seriously prepare for the years to come. God alone can really take care of this mess.