Hilary Robertson-Hickling

When the history of 20th century Jamaica is written, two Jamaicans will be singled out for their sacrificial living and giving which has created opportunities for thousands of Jamaicans to get an education and much more.

Bishop Percival Gibson and the Reverend Madge Saunders borrowed money to start Kingston College and Meadowbrook respectively. They along with family members not only talked the talked but they also walked the walk. They, like many other Jamaicans, created schools from basic to primary to secondary and even tertiary levels. They created a heritage which must always be remembered. In the heat of electioneering the debate seems to be about what governments of various political parties have done, but the truth requires a more comprehensive and honest treatment. With all that has been done the results are still unsatisfactory, and we are still far from solving the problems.

The socialisation process

While we tend to focus on the school for the socialisation of our children, we have overlooked much of what is happening at home. There are far too many dysfunctional families in this country and the state cannot be responsible for much of what happens there.

It would appear that we have forgotten that the complex process of socialisation requires participation by the home, the school, the community and other agents like the church, the Government and the Opposition, the media and the employers. We also need to encourage our young people to realise that it is their future and they have to look ahead and decide where they want to go. Frommy observations independence seems to have forged a definite sense of dependence in many generations of a recent era.

What the reverend gentleman and lady demonstrated in their lives was a commitment to the betterment of the country and its people. Today it has become fashionable to be cynical and self-serving, to decry the efforts of those making valiant efforts to improve things. As Bill Cosby the American educator and entertainer recently noted in an interview on CNN, we need to get up and do something about the violence which is taking such a toll in his city of Philadelphia and across the U.S.A. He suggested that people seem to believe that since God is coming, or people are being punished, we should fold our hands and give up.

Here in Jamaica the mental health professionals must play an even more active role in helping to work with many initiatives that are now taking place. The work of Carimensa, SDC, JCDC , educators, community workers, church workers must try to ensure that a wonderful mind such as that of Lee Boyd Malvo will not be put to work as a mass murderer as he is now described in the U.S.A.

We have to identify those at risk for violence and deviancy and develop policies and programmes which are appropriate. I fear that we are becoming talkers and not doers.

The heritage of Gibson and Saunders should be honoured by the hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries investing some form of capital into institutions, people and the country.

Most of the successful institutions and people in the world, in education, business, in the arts, in religion are the result of sacrificial giving. It is now our turn to do what has to be done.