Changing course

I recently came across the following exchange, purportedly between an American naval vessel and Canadians:

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid collision.

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course!

Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second-largest ship in the United States' Atlantic fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north. I say again, that's one - five degrees north - or countermeasures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship!

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

The real story

It turns out that this is an urban legend. The real story involves an old Jamaica Coastguard patrol boat colliding not with a lighthouse, but with a Whitehouse - the Sandals Whitehouse resort. Okay - that's not true, either, but it's a better explanation than any we've received as to how a hotel, projected to cost US$60 million, could end up costing double that amount, only to be valued, a few years later, at a mere US$40 million. No wonder our young boys are doing poorly in school; our old boys are teaching them fuzzy math. Only in Gordon House and Jamaica House can $60 million + $60 million = $40 million.

In the mid-1700s, long before any of us were around - except for maybe 'Motty' Perkins - enlightenment intellectuals in Europe sparked revolutions of thought in virtually every aspect of society. This spawned the central theme of liberal representative democracy - that all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights. We, the people, delegate leadership responsibility to duly elected representatives who are expected to act in our best interest in promoting and defending human rights and individual liberties. Throughout the centuries, the democracy which grew from this idea travelled to all corners of the globe, and, nearly 50 years ago, landed squarely on our shores.

I wonder if all those who jumped and danced for joy when the Union Jack was lowered on August 6, 1962 ever imagined that things would have come to this. The representatives of the people, when questioned about blatant violations of the people's Constitution, now respond by telling the people's purveyors of information - and thus the people - to "go to hell". While these representatives are busy portraying Ben Matlock on TV, hundreds of children wither away in adult lock-ups. While a hotel loses US$80 million in value in a matter of years, conditions at The Golden Age Home have, according to a Sunday Gleaner report, descended into a deplorable, inhumane state not suitable for the lowest of animals.

Road to ruin

My grandfather has a farm in St Mary. After decades of ownership, he still doesn't have a title. He once grew coconuts there. Cattle grazed lazily. Chickens roamed freely. There were pigs and goats and all sorts of fruit. Visiting this place was like venturing into paradise. Not much goes on there anymore, though. As an octogenarian, my grandfather can no longer tend to the land. No suitable farm workers are available. The coconut contracts are gone. Praedial larceny has rendered passive operation all but impossible. All that remain are memories. I remember the cows, in particular. I had one. My sisters and cousins had their own. Whenever we visited, we would run to see that our cows were doing well. We cared about these animals; these creatures; these beasts.

We like to think of ourselves as a strong people. Best at this, the greatest at that. "Jamaica to the world." "Wi likkle but wi tallawah." It bruises our national ego to hear what a Bajan customs officer did to one of our own. Disgraceful! Retaliate! Withdraw from CARICOM! But against whom do we retaliate when we feebly allow 60 men and women to run our ship - and its near three million passengers - aground? From which organisation do we withdraw when we neglect the most vulnerable of our own brothers and sisters to wallow in filth and to be hosed down like animals; like creatures; like beasts?

The ship is rapidly approaching the lighthouse. Perhaps the lighthouse will change course.

Din Duggan can be reached at columns@gleanerjm.com or dinduggan@gmail.com, or follow him at facebook.com/dinduggan and twitter.com/YoungDuggan.