Heather RobinsonTIME IS moving and changing. There are some things that happened last week that we cannot remember or have great difficulty in recalling.
Years pass and we never consciously remember or even think about some of those who have served our country. Some of us have the ability to recall because of our life experiences, and then there is a new generation that has no basis for recall, because they simply were not yet born.
Death must certainly be one of the best ways of stimulating memory. Whenever death strikes, memories which we thought were dead suddenly come to life and we reminisce. We tell our personal stories of the deceased, and it is our way of celebrating the life of someone whom we knew or perhaps whom we only met once.
I remember Hugh Shearer as a tall and handsome black man, with one of the most exciting smiles. I do not really remember him as a JLP Prime Minister. I remember him as our Prime Minister, so much so that in 1968, my sisters and I allowed him to greet us and lift up my younger sister at a netball match at Eldeweise Park. We did not see him as an 'ole labourite PM' but rather as this tall attractive black man who in 1968 happened to be our Prime Minister.
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
In that same year while a student at St. Hugh's High School, a group of us as third formers would go to the Children's Hospital to play with the children on a Wednesday after school. One Wednesday after visiting the hospital, I went home and wrote a letter to the Prime Minister complaining about the condition of the hospital. About two weeks later our headmistress, Inez Carnegie, informed the school after prayers that she had received a letter from the Prime Minister. Mr. Shearer had written to her asking her to meet with the students who visited the hospital and promised to do what he could to improve the conditions there.
On Tuesday when we were sharing memories of Mr. Shearer, the following story was told. Two young girls attending the Port Maria High School in the late '60s, tried their luck at 'bumming' a drive home to Highgate after school. A nice Mercedes Benz approaches and they decide this is an excellent vehicle to drive in, and so they flagged it down. The car passes, stops and reverses. In those days there are no tinted window, so they immediately see the occupants of the car. It is Prime Minister Hugh Shearer and his driver. He offers them a drive and they accept. During the drive from Port Maria to Highgate they receive a lecture about the benefits and uses of a good education. Mr. Shearer's words did not fall on deaf ears.
Another of my colleagues told a story of receiving a Parker fountain pen from Mr. Shearer as a reward for excellent academic performance. She recalled how much pleasure the pen gave her and how each time she filled it with Parker ink she sought to ensure that it was always used to improve her educational level, and ensure that whenever she saw Mr. Shearer she could give him a positive update on her progress. Someone else recalled with great pleasure how at a wage negotiation meeting he invited her to sit beside him.
FIRST TIME VOTERS
Today while listening to RJR's 'Hotlink' with New York I wasn't really surprised to hear the New York host 'Squeeze' remark to Barbara Gloudon that not many persons in New York even know that Mr. Shearer was a former Prime Minister. In 2007 there will be a new set of first time voters who will have only known P.J. Patterson and his successor as prime ministers.
During National Heroes Week we need to begin to teach our children about all those who have lead this country, not only those who have been elevated to the status of National Hero. Hugh Shearer has died and in the same way that we were told stories about the great grandparent we never knew, so too must we continue to tell the stories about this man who was Jamaica's third Prime Minister, and not just an 'ole labourite'. Hugh Shearer was a truly tall Jamaican black man about whom all our children should know.
Heather Robinson is a life
underwriter and a former Member of Parliament.
