THE EDITOR, Sir:
I READ a letter by one Patrick A. Gallimore, July 15, 2003, suggesting a statue be erected in honour of the Hon. Rex Nettleford so as to inspire current and future generations.
I don't know Mr. Gallimore but what I know is that the Hon. Rex Nettleford has and will forever inspire our Jamaican human beings to what Mr. Gallimore hopes they should be.
Now, in saying this I see no reason for a statue for honourable gentleman in his lifetime let posterity decide that. Rex Nettleford, the gentle soul, would never agree to this in his lifetime.
Statues are what dictators are made of; and as the poet says:-
"An earthy immortality belongs to a great and good character:
History embalms it; it lives in its moral influence, in its authority, in its example, in the memory of its words and deeds."
I am, etc.,
RAYMOND GOLDSMITH
Ocho Rios
