Where do morality, decency stop and start?

By George Davis, Guest Columnist

The security guard was on his regular patrol of the food court and adjacent areas at the Sagicor Shopping Centre in Spanish Town, St Catherine. His life became unbearable after 4 p.m. on weekdays, as that was the time when the facility would be flooded by students from the various high schools inside and outside the Old Capital.

He struggled daily to break up fights among packs of boys and girls, intercept fleeing student shoplifters, and keep his temper in check when boys young enough to be his sons goaded him by offering unsolicited instructions as to what he should do to the private parts of his mother.

One day, with his shift winding down, the guard went into the male restroom. Usually, he would find boys engaged in intense grooming, or at worst, scrawling graffiti on the walls or doors. But what he saw on that day in early 1995, according to his testimony, troubled him deeply.

According to the guard, he entered the restroom and found it empty. He was about to leave when he noticed that the door to one stall was closed. He took a closer look, peeking below the door, when, to his surprise, he saw four feet. Startled, he wondered if he was going crazy. Surely, he thought to himself, no four-legged person or beast passed him on its way into the restroom.

He collected himself and pushed the door to the stall with enough to force to break the flimsy latch. When the door burst open, the guard saw the face and epaulettes of a boy, sitting on the toilet, with his khaki trousers and underpants bunched at his ankles. He saw the back of a girl, in her famous school uniform, straddling the boy.

That sight, of two schoolers engaged in coitus, in their uniforms, inside a public restroom was damaging enough. But as the guard related moments later, the most devastating thing was when the girl looked around at him, smiled, then said, "It's all right, enuh, him have on a condom."

No reason to be worked up

By her explanation, the guard had no reason to be worked up about the incident involving students in a public space, because at the end of the day, it's not as if she would get pregnant. As a student who suffered from the temporary ban imposed on all high-schoolers by the management of the facility in the wake of that incident, I, like the security guard, will never forget.

In an unexplained way, the justification given by some folks for the conduct of Richard Azan in the Spaldings Market controversy takes me back to that incident from my high-school years. Azan has publicly admitted to making serious errors. What appears to be his justice of the peace stamp, which I understand cannot be used by proxy, marks receipts for rent collected for use of the illegally built shops.

He admitted publicly that he knew about the use of his constituency office as a rent-collection point for the illegally built shops. The local government minister, Noel Arscott, told the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament that Azan blundered when he became involved in the unauthorised construction and illegal rental of 10 shops at the Spaldings Market.

What more is needed for Azan to be sacked as state minister for transport, works and housing?

In a very unscientific public opinion poll conducted by my substantive employer, people excuse Azan's role in the matter, saying he may have done wrong but he did it to help poor people. Others say we should move on from the whole affair, as while he may have breached clear procedures, his actions assisted in taking 10 vendors off the streets and reducing traffic congestion in Spaldings. What? When did expediency trump law and common decency?

If these are the views of responsible adults, what then can we expect from young men and women, caught in compromising positions in public? Where do morality and decency stop and start in this country?

We are a people whose collective core is becoming more putrefied by the day because of our surrender to indecency and immorality and our indifference to rank 'outa-order-niss'. Damn shame.

Selah.

George Davis is a journalist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and george.s.davis@hotmail.com.