A disconnected nation
published: Sunday | October 5, 2003
THE EDITOR, Sir:
WHILE READING the lead story of The Sunday Gleaner September 28, "Drivers skirt toll" and the other related stories, it became crystal clear how disconnected we are as a nation.
I can assure Teino Evans and John Myers, writers of the lead story, that refusing to use the toll road has nothing to do with "penny pinching" for some of us although penny pinching is a wise endeavour in these harsh economic times.
Various reasons have been given for avoiding the toll road, but there is one set of persons whose views have not been aired. There are those of us who see the disparity between the toll road and the pothole-riddled, sign-less, tracks in our community as a clear indication of the physical, social, and psychological distance between the Government and us.
The toll road is symbolic of the First World lifestyle that some Jamaicans enjoy while other Jamaicans struggle to eke out a mere existence. We avoid the toll road because the contrast between our roads and the toll road is too stark. We are still suffering from the ravages of the flood rains. We avoid paying toll in order to reduce the toll of the toll road on our psyche.
