Fifty Easters

"GIVE THANKS and praises we are 25". For some reason, I'm remembering the days, in 1987, when those words resonated incessantly in my young brain. As a 7-year-old I couldn't completely grasp the importance of that national birthday and the omnipresent song commemorating it. One thing I did gather, however, was that being 25 was an accomplishment worth celebrating. The rest of Jamaica apparently agreed, as Roy Rayon's Thanks and Praises won the festival song competition.

My reference to Jamaica's silver anniversary might be completely irrelevant. It's not Independence Day. It is (or was) Easter. But you'll have to forgive me. I tend to get my holidays mixed up - especially these days when I possess neither the inclination or disposable resources to adequately partake in the various festivities. Perhaps I need to create a mnemonic device to keep track of all these holidays. Let's see - during Easter, people flock to 'Ochi'; during Independence people flock to Negril. During Easter, we celebrate imaginary bunnies and our Government celebrates equally imaginative budgets; during Independence, we celebrate outmoded accomplishments and our Government trumpets unwarranted optimism.

The story of Easter

Frivolities aside, last weekend, Jamaicans of the Christian faith celebrated Easter - the remembrance of the holiest event in Christianity. We've heard the Easter story, ad nauseam: Jesus Christ - God incarnate - sent to save the world from the emptiness and destructiveness of sin through the ultimate act of love - his own death by crucifixion. Although He walked a blameless path in this world, He was made to carry the cross on which the sins and burdens of all humanity lay. He was ultimately nailed to that cross and crucified for transgressions that are rightfully ours. On the third day, He was resurrected so that all who have faith in Him are redeemed.

Jesus bearing His cross is symbolic of the struggles that believers must faithfully endure on their road to redemption. As we 'box off' the last of the bun and cheese and bid farewell to Easter, let us remember the many crosses upon which sit the burdens of so many Jamaicans. A great many of these burdens were collectively devised and can only be overcome through collective action.

our crosses

First, let us help carry the crosses of those grieving masses whose murdered loved ones - fathers, sisters, sons - have fallen victims to a culture of violence that has poisoned our national psyche.

We have a shared duty to ease the burdens of the 540,000 Jamaicans - a quarter million more than just three years ago - who hopelessly languish in poverty. Despite facing our own individual trials, we cannot expect to progress as a nation if one in five of our people earn less than the bare minimum needed to maintain an adequate standard of living.

Let us not forget those entrepreneurs whose efforts, two decades ago, to create vibrant, productive enterprises were rewarded with skyrocketing interest rates and crushing debt. Thousands of these people - some of Jamaica's most daring, creative, and resourceful - are still grappling with this debt and suffering the financial, emotional, and psychological turmoil that accompany shattered dreams and crippled livelihoods.

We certainly can't forget the burdens borne by Jamaicans who suffer gross injustices at the hands of a system that unapologetically favours the wealthy and well-connected. In the most extreme cases, hundreds of poor Jamaicans are executed extrajudicially each year. Those who make it into a court of law - many for petty crimes - are routinely slapped with lengthy prison terms while white-collar criminals receive slaps on the wrists. Contemporaneously, dozens of juveniles - whose lives could be transformed into meaningful existences - sit in adult correctional facilities alongside hardened criminals.

I remember now why 1987 Independence came to mind: Jamaica currently stands on the brink of her golden anniversary of Independence - next year we celebrate 50 years of sovereignty. While 25 years is cause for celebration, 50 is cause for introspection. Over the last quarter-century, we have picked up innumerable crosses. We are now approaching that crossroad of our existence when we must, as a people, choose to either continue on our own selfish paths toward destruction or collectively, faithfully, and steadfastly help to carry each other's burdens to a destination of atonement and redemption.

Din Duggan is an attorney who now works as a consultant with a global legal search firm. Email him at columns@gleanerjm.com or dinduggan@gmail.com or follow him at facebook.com/dinduggan and twitter.com/YoungDuggan.