THE EDITOR, Sir:
CRIME AND violence are at their highest in my living memory. This is true of its volume (now about six a day) and of its kind (includes babies).
The government is right to put crime and violence on one of its frontburners. However, government will neglect the other burners (justice, production, employment, education) at its peril and the peril of all of us.
There are an increasing number of people calling for a state of emergency. I am not against states of emergency in principle but let us learn from our own history.
The potential of Jamaica is great. There are many people working assiduously to bring about necessary changes. In themselves, in others, people working with disadvantaged groups, teachers sharing their lunches with hungry children, people parenting dispossessed children, human rights groups and so on.
The government should not blow the opportunities away in the panic of draconian measures.
For those inclined to leave our situation to God I say think and work while you pray. Be like Alfred the Great who prayed and fought and won; and not like his brother Ethelred the Unready who stayed too long at prayers and lost his battles.
I am, etc.,
M.H. ELLIOTT
St. Andrew
