A 'selfie' of Jamaica

By Garth Rattray

Last year, Oxford Dictionary's word of the year was 'Selfie' - "a photo one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website". It is thought to have Australian roots and was first used as far back as 2002.

Indulging in the anthropomorphism of our island home, with all her complexities, multi-ethno-racial inhabi-tants, socio-economic nightmares, ups and downs, I wonder what a selfie of Jamaica would look like.

A curious Jamaica would take a picture of herself. She always looks good from far but given the ravages of time, innumerable environmental assaults wrought by the people privileged to occupy her, indiscipline, cruelty, and criminality from shore to shore, would she look far from good up close?

At first glance of her selfie, one could not help but be taken by her stunning beauty. In spite of the lack of serious environmental safeguards, so far, her mountains and hills remain majestic and verdant. Her skies remain the most beautiful and breathtaking blue imaginable. Her clouds, for the most part, bright white and thick, patrol her skies slowly as they linger as long as possible overhead.

Several of her rivers still bubble, foam and splash their way to her coastline. Their banks teem with lush vegetation that explode uphill and carpet her valleys. Her surviving wildlife sing the song that they have sung for thousands of years. Several have become extinct, many are on the path to extinction and innumerable are being threatened but they still sing, hidden in the underbrush and in the trees and in the remaining woodlands and forests.

The borders of her face sparkle in the playful sunlight and shimmer with each wave that collapses, totally spent, on to her coastline. Somehow, in spite of the decimation and poisoning of her barrier reefs and the pollution (solid and chemical waste) that wash down in contaminated streams, rivers and mucky gullies, her sand manages to maintain its pristine appearance.

underneath it all

Her skin still gleams underneath it all - underneath the physical and psychological scars caused by her people, her unappreciative people, her indifferent people, her myopic people. Obviously, they don't realise the fragile gem that has been entrusted to them. Obviously, they don't see that she can never be replaced. Obviously, their self-interest has obtunded their capacity to reason and rendered them virtually anencephalic.

Her eyes stare up at the heavens, questioning her fate at the hands of her caretakers, wondering how it will all end, praying that they will somehow see the light and the error of their ways. Her silent screams for help go unheard by the politicians and the powerful in society - all are too busy, too involved, too deep in 'it', too shallow of thought and reason to hear her and to heed her before it's too late.

Looking closer now and she sees deep lines in her face, carved out by partisans who crave victory and power, a part of each other yet apart from each other they divide to conquer and rule. Cosmetic gestures can never cover those furrows, they must be excised by leaders brave enough to truly sacrifice their politics and themselves for her sake. But nobody is holding their breath, and the lines continue to deepen and to grow until they carve out an ugly mosaic undeserving of such a beautiful island.

who will save her?

Her decline in beauty is insidious; corruption and crime are poisoning her, killing her. Perhaps it's too late. Sallow now, she looks away and wonders who will save her. Certainly not some rich and powerful foreign power (they all have their own problems and she has little to offer them in return). Certainly not the administrators (their track record says it all). It's up to the 'ordinary' citizens to unite in thought and purpose and demand that the leaders follow suit.

Garth Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.