THE EDITOR, Sir:AFTER READING the headlines in The Gleaner concerning the churches assistance in tackling crime, I have been constrained to write. Jamaica holds the world record for the highest number of churches per square mile, yet we have one of the highest crime rates. One would have thought that the reverse would be the situation. We are therefore left with the stark reality that contact with God is not just a matter of going to church. There is a lot more involved. It is all about finding that spiritual awareness, that God consciousness within us.
My life-long concern has been with the social problems of our society particularly as it touches the lives of our children and young people. In my early years I saw the solution in politics but became disillusioned in the mid-sixties.
CONVINCED
A few decades later with more understanding of one's spiritualily as well as of our social and historical background, I became convinced that our urgent need is of a spiritual social revolution.
Crime has its roots in society's social and economic standards as well as in those historical factors that affect the structure of society. Anyone with an appreciation of such matters and given the conditions under which so many of our people live should not be surprised at the level of crime today.
If we are to deal with crime effectively then we must start in the homes, the communities, the schools. Self-worth, self-esteem, must be ingrained in the minds of our youth. Children live on the streets with absolutely no form of parental guidance or protection.
I see a spiritual social revolution as the means whereby we will awaken that latent spirit within. I see it being launched in time for our emancipation independence celebrations in August 2005. I see a year-long programme at the end of which we as a people will have risen to new levels of spiritual awareness, self worth, independence. These are the weapons we need to fight crime and so assist in generating a new vision of self that will transform our society.
This is an invitation to all concerned persons who read this letter for us to get together to examine the issues and combine our energies and ideas so as to enable us to come up with a programme to address the challenges. Let us know in the depths of our being that we are being guided and directed by the divine presence. Success will be ours.
I am, etc.,
M. L. CARTER
28 Queensbury
Drive, Kingston 19
