THE EDITOR, Sir:
JAMAICA'S PROBLEM with respect to corruption is not at all a new one. Jamaicans know that; they are not naive. And while commentary in The Sunday Gleaner (October 12) would link corruption with committees, government action, and the rise or fall of the Gross Domestic Product, the Jamaican people are not fooled by such pandering, political diversion.
They know that structures of Government either work well or work poorly to serve people's needs. They know it is the people who run those governments, who are honest, upright, and live according to the principles of their faith and take pride in themselves and their history, or they are corrupt and they live in a world of lies, deceit and hypocrisy.
They also know that for the poor man, corruption is seen as a tragic necessity of survival, and that for the rich man it is an expedient means to an end. In any free and democratic society, wherever the gap between "haves and have nots" is too wide, inevitably there is corruption, because corruption is simply the failure of principle against the extremes of societal expression the perceived reality of necessity and the fantasy of greed.
Yet, regardless of who is blamed for it, in Jamaica today, Church, Education, and Law, must, as a mighty triumvirate, work to create and sustain a society where the extremes of life are not made to surface like sores on an afflicted body, where there is a wholeness to life, where there is an inherent trust in the hearts of the poor, and a willing compassion in those of the wealthy.
I am etc.,
ED McCOY
mmhobo@juno.com
Bokeelia, Florida
Via Go-Jamaica
