Hartley NeitaHUGH LAWSON Shearer celebrates his 80th birthday today. And if you ask him how he is, he will reply as he has done for over 50 years to this question: 'Fine, up to now'.
It is difficult to write about 80 years of life in a column of this size. In fact, it will take many books to record his achievements and speeches, and anecdotes about him and of his experiences. Even more difficult, too, is to record the contributions he has made to our country. For many of the things we now take for granted are so because of him.
On this special birthday, I thought I would tell you of an incident in his life which took place during his tenure as Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1967 to 1972, and which, I think, captures who and what he is. He had toured the parish of St. Ann on that day (July 20, 1967) with two members of his staff, and was scheduled to speak at the Prize Giving and Graduation Exercises of the St. Ann Homecraft Centre at the Baptist Church Hall in St. Ann's Bay that evening.
Beth and Lenworth Jacobs she, a family planning advocate/activist at a time when it was not a popular posture, and he, a physician and sportsman offered their home to him and his staff to shower and change at the end of the heat of the day. Before leaving for the function, he was relaxing in the living room listening to the news on radio "to hear if they were saying anything terrible about me, as usual". Looking at his shoes he saw they were dusty and he asked the household helper, who the Jacobs had introduced to him earlier, for a shoe brush and polish. The young lady left the room and soon returned, stooping in front of him to shine his shoes. He held her gently by her hand and stopped her.
"Thanks, but no, love," he said, "I've been shining my shoes since I can remember, and Prime Minister yes or Prime Minister no, I still clean them myself." And he did.
When the staff arrived at the function they were questioned by a number of people. "Is it true the Prime Minister shines his shoes himself?" they asked. The helper had gone to the function and proudly told everyone that "my Prime Minister shine him own shoes, himself."
The story does not end there. Prime Minister Shearer was to speak on a subject which I do not now recall, but perhaps the incident at the Jacobs' home made him change his mind. He spoke, instead of his intention to have legislation enacted to make it compulsory for all domestic helpers, nursemaids, cooks, gardeners, and other household workers to enjoy the benefits of annual vacation and sick leave with pay. And like her employer, who as an employee elsewhere, enjoys the benefits of leave with pay. There were not then, and perhaps would never be, he said, sufficient industrial, technical and clerical jobs to absorb the entire labour force in Jamaica. So there will always be a need for household help. "It is an unpleasant fact to hear," he continued, "but my obligation is to tell the people of this country, the truth whether it hurts or not. The fact is that some persons will get industrial, clerical, technical and professional jobs. Others will be farmers to provide the food to feed the nation, but there will still be many who will have to accept jobs in other kinds of services. The society, unfortunately, has developed an attitude and placed a social stigma on domestic employment and these jobs are therefore unpopular.
"All levels of society must now take a right-about-turn in this matter," he stated. "Domestic employees should enjoy the opportunity of mixing with the rest of society. It is not merely a social gesture, but I abhor the treatment of these employees in excluding them from participating in functions and gatherings which deny them of helpful and significant opportunities for social intercourse. For in the final analysis, no job is better than the other."
He then commented on what he described as "the uncivilised and brutal attitude towards household workers who are required to work from dawn and until the last cocktail party guest leaves at 3.00 o'clock in the morning, without rest or reward"... As to accommodation, he felt that they should be provided with basic and comfortable amenities; they should also enjoy better treatment in the homes; and he wondered what was the reason for the reluctance to introduce household helps to visitors, bearing in mind that these helpers were the ones who were depended on to serve drinks and prepare food for these visitors.
"Nothing is wrong," he added, "to let your household helps shake the hands of all your visitors. In addition, they should be treated with respect and when they make errors these should not be corrected with abuse and assault. And children must be taught to show respect to them."
And leading the applause were Lenworth Jacobs, the chairman of the function, and his wife, Beth, who not only believed but also practised what Shearer said.
That, my dear readers, is Hugh Shearer in a Kodak memory. Happy 80, H.L., Hugh Lawson, Hugh, or Son Lindo as you were known as a young boy in your birth town, Martha Brae.
