'Tun u hand mek fashion'

Took a trek to Ewarton last week to hear what the people thought about news that the bauxite factory may close its doors.

Half of the people we spoke to either didn't hear, heard but weren't sure what they heard, or heard but didn't believe it. Just goes to show that even in this day and age of information, at every turn, nothing beats good, old-fashioned face-to-face discourse. But I digress; to say that Ewarton depends on the factory is like saying Bob Marley is well known.

Now I haven't been on the planet that long but I've seen a few instances now where a community becomes too dependent on one main source of income. Every time the cry is the same, without the factory or the mill or whatever it is, "we can't survive". They're thinking maybe a few people can 'run taxi' but then if everybody starts driving taxis, there won't be many passengers left. Like popular DJ Assassin asked in one of his songs, "How mi nuh hear nuh man a say dem waan be farmers? Mussi tru it nuh glamorous fi plant bananas!" And if you think about it, like an assassin, he's right on the mark. Farming is a noble profession, but how many of us could really do it. I'm pretty certain I couldn't. Yep, I get up early but it's not to dig yams or to weed the ground. My grandfather and uncles do, so I know it can't be all that hard.

But if you're not a techie, then, like me for instance, you can forget about developing apps or systems and maybe selling them to one of the big boys for billions of dollars. If you're not good with your hands, then 'learning a skill' is also out of the question. The police force, army and fire brigade are all viable options but some of us have an issue with authority, so uniformed superiors telling you what to do may not sit well. And if you don't believe you have the necessary drive to own your own business, then you may not consider opening your own place anytime soon.

Furthermore, with all that can go wrong in the world financially (bail out here, bail out there), we might be headed right back to the land anyway. So all those who don't like to get their hands dirty (whether because of manicures or they're just 'stush'), dog nyameth thy supper. Not that you are going to have any supper if you don't tun you hand mek fashion.

Tell me what I should plant at daviot.kelly@gleanerjm.com.