Jamaica 50 ... and then what ?

Jamaica is 50 this year, boy if you missed that you must have been in a coma for more than a year, because the buzz surrounding our half -a- century anniversary has been nothing less than CONSTANT.

From the billions of dollars Babsy wanted to spend, to the reduced cost and change in the nature of the programmes the JLP had already outlined, to one of the organizers complaining about time constraints, to the change of the theme, to the two songs... and the drama surrounding those two songs alone is a topic for another blog post. [May I just add that neither of them seem fitting, to me at least...]

One of my friends suggested a 70's festival song ("This is the land of my birth"), and I completely agree with him... But I digress...

Anyway, after all this "hoopla" with our 50th year, then what? When the smoke and excitement clear, what will be left, except more debt? 

What have we achieved in 50 years? What is there to celebrate really? Think about it and just let me know if you see anything SIGNIFICANT that has happened in the 50 years that Jamaica has been independent that makes you especially proud of being a Jamaican? [Speaking specifically about infrastructure and development wise, not in terms of our achievements in sports and Olympics; that's largely personal on the part of the athletes]. Mind you, I love this country, I absolutely do... But where is the advancement that we have made as a people? I am not a social pathologist, political analyst, current affairs expert or financial advisor, I am merely a citizen that has been around for less than the 50 years we're celebrating and I don't see much to celebrate.

One thing has remained constant, we love to celebrate milestones... Anywhere you go in Jamaica (except a Jehovah Witness' house), a birthday or anniversary is a big deal and cake must be had, a goat or two may have to be sacrificed and there must be crates of drinks, so we can properly celebrate a life or a union. This is beautiful, simply beautiful and I am not saying the nation should not have some sort of commemorative activity for whatever struggles we overcame to get to 50, but at what cost ?

Realize, please, that I said commemorating the struggles we overcame to get to 50, not just simply hip-hip-hooray-ing that we are 50 years old, which is what they seem to be doing.

Wouldn't it have been cheaper to run a series of films, commemorating the years at Emancipation park, or somewhere else in New Kingston? I adopted this idea from going to Canada a few summers ago and they had an old movie festival, a free event where old films were projected on the side of a huge building and people came out with chairs, blankets, etc... to watch.

Wouldn't something like this be appreciated, it could be a month of events and of course you would have to partner with television stations who could dig up in their archives for material worth showing for Jamaica 50. 

That's just one simple, non-expensive activity and I could go on and on and on, but why bother? We are going to have some expensive schedule of events, which our kids and their kids and their kids will add to the debt that they're already going to be burdened with.

After Jamaica 50, then what? huh?