THE EDITOR, Sir:
I HAVE been reflecting and introspecting as a new year dawns. What have I accomplished (or not), and what do I want to accomplish in the new year? I can't help but think about the nation that we are privileged to be a part of. I wonder how we have managed to lose sight of and stray so far from the goals that were part of our 'Vision Statement' after independence. Goals that our pledge so clearly set out ... justice, brotherhood and love for all mankind.
And then I am reminded of the story in the Bible that unfolds as the Israelites journey from bondage in Egypt through the wilderness to the promised land.
40 YEARS
They took 40 years to make what should have been an eleven-day trip! God had mapped out the route for them. All it should have taken was eleven days, but instead, it took them 40 years! Forty years of backtracking, and going round in circles. Forty years of backbiting, grumbling and complaining. Forty years wasted. And in the end, out of a group of several million, only two of them actually entered the promised land having chosen to follow the 'vision statement' that the Lord had set before them.
And as we remember that infamous journey, let us use it as an example of what to avoid as we enter into another year of independence. As the new year begins, let us each, as individuals, purpose in our hearts to be one of those that will stand up and face 'the giants' that are plaguing our 'Promised Land'. The giants of crime, corruption, lewdness, injustice and selfishness and make a decision for 2006, that 'we are well able to conquer them'.
I am, etc.,
PAULA KERR-JARRETT
Montego Bay
