Wendel Abel

As individuals and as a group, we display character traits that work against us. These are aptly captured in words that haveevolved in our local creole, patois, such as 'bad mouth', 'bad mind' and 'bad ways'.

Bad mouth

This refers to the habit of speaking ill of another person or thing. We 'bad mouth' people whom we dislike or resent.

Slavery systematically devalued, demeaned, diminished and denigrated everything that was black. This is reflected in our language, culture and symbolism. Anything black is associated with that which is evil and impure (such as black cat, blackmail, Black Knight, Black Friday, devil); whereas symbols of whiteness are associated with goodness, cleanliness and purity such as (Snow White, White Knight, angels).

A very deeply entrenched practice in our culture is to 'bad mouth' ourselves and our country. You will hear common expressions such as, 'anything black no good' and 'black man can't run things'. There is a tendency to 'bad mouth' anyone or anything that looks like us, anything that resembles our black heritage. This has been a legacy of slavery and reflects a lack of self-acceptance, self-devaluation and self-hate. This is quite aptly captured in an expression I often share with readers, 'when you are white you are right, when you are brown stay around, when you are black stay back'.

We also have a great capacity to 'bad mouth' our country. I am amazed that many of us (even when I meet Jamaicans overseas) revel in talking about the bad things that occur in our country. Of course, Jamaica has its challenges but, we are certainly not the worst off. We have to re-orientate this society to become one in which our people demonstrate a greater sense of patriotism.

Bad ways

Individuals and groups develop patterns of behaviour which are unacceptable. Many of these behaviours are historically derived and socially transmitted. As a people, we have difficulty in taking responsibility for our actions. For example, if one breaks a glass, when confronted it is not uncommon to hear the response 'the glass just fall and break'. This inability to assume responsibility may have evolved out of slavery; the slave was afraid to take responsibility as doing so would often be met with the harshest of punishment or even death.

Many persons are concerned about our poor service culture and our attitudes toward work. This is an issue that warrants some discussion. Many employers expect their employees to give the highest quality of service despite the fact that they are not adequately rewarded. The reality is, where persons are adequately rewarded and motivated they will give a high quality of service. The grim reality is that when we pretend to pay people, they will pretend to work. People will not give quality service in a state of servitude.

The tendencies to take things at the workplace, to outsmart and 'ginnal' one another are characteristics that were developed in order to survive the ravages of slavery some of these attitudes were adaptive, in a modern democratic society many of them are inappropriate and maladaptive.

Bad mind

This term is defined as unkind or evil thinking. Some persons, because of socialisation and an inability to deal with their emotions, develop such patterns of thinking. We think ill of others and are never able to see the positive in them. Other people are 'put down', criticised and condemned. People with 'bad mind' are not able to deal with others' success as a result of their own insecurities. They may need to seek therapy to deal with their own personal challenges and demons.