THE EDITOR, Sir:

I had a dream a few nights ago, wherein I was on a ship painted in the colors of black, gold and green. It was a very large ship, with a lot of merrymaking on the upper decks, while the boatswains at the lower decks were grimacing with sadness as the mechanics of the ship ceased functioning.

They had to be manually spinning the oars, with little or no pay, but yet they kept on working because, somehow, they knew that if they stopped, it would sink, and they did not want any harm to come to their loved ones.

As the ship sailed on to and fro, seemingly without direction, I went upstairs to seek audience with those in charge. But to my surprise, the shipmasters were having a retreat party by the poolside with councillors and advisers.

What was disturbing to me was that the new masters were in the job for merely nine months and weren't even qualified to have a vacation just yet.

MAKING MERRY AMID STORM

I tried to move further on to the upper deck where the captain was, and I was stopped by the SSOs (ship security officers) and was told that I was not qualified to speak with the captain, as she was busy having photo ops with World Cup cricketers and Olympic champions, and furthermore she does not talk, talk, talk about the issues of the day, she has delegated lieutenants to deal with those matters.

I went back to the middle quarters of the ship angry, frustrated and worried. My eyes were seemingly shut, so I opened them slowly and realised that I was not sleeping, so it really was not a dream.

The ship was Jamaica and it is indeed in need of visionary and capable leadership that will not abscond responsibilities.

MELVIN PENNANT

warriorsunleashed@gmail.com