THE EDITOR, Sir:

Here we go again! Additional proof that I must be an alien. Once again, the evil that lurks in the souls of all humankind has soiled the surface of our consciousness and driven fear into the hearts of even the most semi-conscious nationalist. As news of crime assaults our ears and eyes, "We are doomed!" is the cry. "The barbarians are at the gate!" "We must kill them all!" "The Government must act!" "Bunting must go!"

Which brand of insanity can cause us to believe that we can neglect our human capital for generations, process hundreds of thousands of our children through a substandard educational system, deliver no justice for wrongs committed, while the minority of us live like anaerobic bacteria on the ever-decreasing nutrients in the cesspool that our society has become?

Jamaica has had negligible growth to speak of for four decades. The ignorance, brutality, poverty of spirit, and abuse of social norms are the natural consequences of the neglect of our human capital and the squandering of our scarce resources through corruption and high-end lifestyles.

The atrocities that we now bewail are the obverse side of the said coin that also produces brilliance and creativity from the oppressively poor circumstances endured by the mass of our people.

Logic should tell us that we get what we pay for. Neither as followers nor as leaders have we demonstrated any understanding of the idea that social development can only occur if there is social investment.

economic patterns

I fear, also, that we do not understand that IMF agreement or no IMF agreement, our lifestyles and our economic behavioural patterns will have to undergo drastic and sacrificial changes. We seem to believe that only the unions and the civil servants are going to feel pain.

And, of course, the last leader who told us the truth about the bitter medicine was dispatched to the punishment corner. Well, Mr Andrew Holness must be congratulated for his truth-telling, but he now needs to come back to the centre and promote unity.

Dear Editor, my only personal regret is that I have been abandoned on this planet and there is no Scotty from Star Trek to bear me up.

HOWARD MITCHELL

howsam1@yahoo.com