Richard Ho Lung - DIARY OF A GHETTO PRIESTTHE NATURE of Jamaicans is to believe things can get done. Look at the bobsled team, the Reggae Boyz, Bob Marley, George Headley, Michael Holding, Miss Lou, Rex Nettleford, Merlene Ottey, Butch Stewart, Michael Lee-Chin, and a host of others. Look at our reggae music, and our Jamaican cuisine. We are positive people who will try the impossible and achieve it.
There is a fascinating quality to the Jamaican people; it's a dynamic element that drives our people to achieve great things. This dynamic element is a 'do or die' attitude which knows no limits. It leads us to great things or self-destruction. We cheer those great achievements, and we weep at our disasters. If only we could rein in this dynamic element and direct it at nation building, community building, rather than just indivi-dual achievement. Working together is not a salient characteristic of Jamaicans not so far.
I believe there needs be leadership which works at unifying and bonding people together. Rene Simoes was one such person. I believe Rex Nettleford also achieved that. They know great discipline is required and they pushed the individuals to the limit. Thus, they achieved great things in our people. They believed in the individuals, they are creative and imaginative, and they themselves worked hard and required the same of all who worked under them. What we will find in Jamaica is an abundance of raw talent and a tremendous spirit of generosity. Once Jamaicans believe what they are doing, they will make tremendous sacrifices. Once there is authentic leadership, Jamaicans will go all the way and give brilliant and inspiring performances.
BREATHTAKING
I believe this can also happen in the workplace, whether it be a bank, a hotel, agriculture, or construction. I believe it is part of Jamaican soul to possess this dynamic talent. It is born of the breathtaking topography: there is the breathtaking power of the mountains and hills. If we visit the Mavis Bank area and look at the Blue Mountains, we could meditate all day long on the design made by God's hands. The Blue Mountains rise higher and higher into the clouds and are deep blue, capped by fluffy rolling clouds. Slanting on the sides of the mountains are the hills that are like young sisters and brothers to the giant mountains.
Beyond these mountains we can see layers upon layers of hills and mountains rolling back towards Port Antonio. Our hearts leap at the sight of the wild lush spectacle of these peaked mountains and the expansive blue heavens. At that very spot we turn 180 degrees and we see the seas: our Kingston Harbour stretches from the airport to St. Thomas. Down to the sea the hills seem to plunge. Nestled in the hills and mountains is our expansive city of Kingston, especially beautiful at night, lit up by lights like stars as if resting in the valley which is our city of Kingston, bewildered by the battle between good and evil over which it seems to have no control.
And all through our island on and on there are mountains and hills, cooled by rivers and streams, beautified by trees and flowers. These are the images deep in the soul of every Jamaican. Everything in our topography is extreme and extraordinary, beautiful, powerful and mysterious. It's what makes us believe in ourselves and desirous of achieving great things. So marvelous and breathtaking is God's generosity and the work He has crafted in making our land that we too are desirous to co-operate and make of ourselves and our people something grand and wonderful.
ACHIEVING GREAT THINGS
While working on 'Moses', 'Jesus 2000' and 'Isaiah' as well as other productions, I found in Paula Shaw, Alwin Bully, Jon and Wynton Williams this readiness to dare achieve great things for the Lord and our people. Moreover, I found in our performers actors and actresses, dancers, and musicians a vibrancy and energy that was most rare. It is born of a spirit of generosity that will go to any extreme to give glory to Him our Maker and to serve our poor. Likewise, I have found in our Brothers in Jamaica, though most are not Jamaicans, that same Jamaicanness a readiness to do or die, to serve extraordinarily, to give completely in service of the Almighty and our poorest of peoples in Jamaica and all over the world: in Haiti, India, the Philippines and Uganda.
I see that the heart or core of the Jamaican daring spirit is God who demands great things of us, and has made this wonderful and fascinating people of ours. Moreover, I can see this God of ours can set on fire in Jamaica the hearts of men and women all over the world to build a new kingdom here on earth which will startle and inspire, rebuild a world that is 'longing and yearning for the children of God' (Romans 8:19).
Father Ho Lung is founder and leader of the Missionaries of the Poor.
