LETTER OF THE DAY - Resist social chaos

The Editor, Sir:

Dennie Quill's column of last Wednesday, April 7 touched me deeply. He speaks the truth. There are wonderful things going for us, but if the fundamental things on which a civilised social order rests are left to crumble, then sooner or later those wonderful things will bring no more joy.

Champs is one of those wonderful things, built by vision, hard work and a volunteering spirit. But it, too, will crumble if left up to the anti-social behaviour generated by a competitive spirit taken to the extreme. In this regard, it is sad that some of your readers narrowly focused on one tree, failing to see the wood, and in so doing missed the point of your editorial deploring the unfortunate celebration by a certain young athlete with a symbolic gun salute. It was bad enough for the misguided youngster to have repeated the gesture in another display of triumph in another country, but it is positively worse that the gesture was defended by some, including someone claiming to be one of his teachers no less.

And that is a measure of the difficulty we as a people face. For where the blind have only the blind to lead them, one knows what will become of them.

We cannot all migrate, even if we all had places we could run to. Our people have come too far, overcome too many obstacles and created too many wonderful things to relinquish this country to the deepening chaos. We have to resist, those of us, that is, who choose to stay. There is little point in staying if not to join in the resistance. But we don't all have to appear on the front lines. We can give our support to those who do, of which there are hundreds, including those whose work in education and the arts, in business and social welfare, building models of a Jamaica that is really the preferred place to live.

I am, etc.,

BARRY CHEVANNES

barry.chevannes@uwimona.edu.jm

Centre for Public

Safety & Justice

Kingston 7