Garth Rattray
HALLOWEEN IS celebrated in the United States and several other countries. The event dates back over 2000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. It marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of winter. The death rate was higher this time of year and the Celts believed that at Samhain the boundary between the living and the dead became blurred. They believed that the dead returned to earth, wreaked havoc and facilitated occult practices. When Christianity spread to Celtic lands (now Ireland), they designated the festival 'All Saint's Day' to honour saints and martyrs. It was also called 'All hallows day'. The night before was called 'All Hallows eve' then, eventually 'Halloween'. Ghost and horror stories associate the night with scary events.
SCARY LIFE IN THE US
But living in the United States is scary enough without Halloween. It has more than its fair share of murders, shootings, stabbings, abductions, rape and a wide variety of other crimes. If your child wanders away from you, there's a good chance that someone may steal him or her. Although that society is sophisticated, many minors are sexually abused and/or used for pornography. And then, there's the ever-present spectre of terrorism. It has changed life in the U.S. forever. Terrorism alerts dictate the level of security throughout the country. Air travel requires that you arrive several hours before boarding time for processing. People are fingerprinted, scanned and interrogated.
In spite of her scariness, until recently, the U.S. only ranked 24th worldwide in murders per capita with a rate of 4 per 100,000 people. In the mid-1970s Jamaica ranked 10th with 10 per 100,000 people. In 2003 we were 3rd with 32 per 100,000 people (behind Colombia with 61 per 100,000 people and South Africa with 50 per 100,000 people). Now I?m hearing (unconfirmed) reports that we are number one!
Consequently, we lose a great many productive Jamaicans to the US annually because of security concerns and for the educational and financial opportunities that it offers. Although I have friends that have been burglarised, gun-butted and mugged in the U.S., they remain adamant that they feel safer there and, statistically, they are correct. The problem is that Jamaica is far too small for all this crime and violence. We are geographically, developmentally and cognitively too small.
The powers that be have consistently failed to think big. They remain mired in politics, protectionism, tribalism, favouritism and insularism. Big thinkers would know that with all that's going on worldwide, this is the perfect time to make our tourist industry the safest and the best in the world. Big thinkers would know that crime is keeping billions of U.S. dollars outside our reach. Between January and June of this year alone we imported more than J$133 billion worth of goods but we exported less than 46 billion. We need to make up that monetary shortfall or else we will continue down the bottomless pit of foreign debt, financial ruin, poverty and even more crime.
Although the quality of life and standard of living are important factors, foreigners and Jamaicans living abroad finger crime and violence as their number one reason for staying away. If all those who wished to visit, invest or retire here were able to do so without fear, we would be a prosperous nation. We have to make the environment for investment and settlement a safe, friendly and inviting one. The Gleaner Letter to the Editor (You couldn't pay me to go to Jamaica) published October 13, 2005, put it very well indeed.
DRAINING THE COUNTRY'S LIFEBLOOD
Gangsterism, fuelled by dirty politics, drugs and racketeering, has superseded traditional law and order in many communities. Criminality has sunk its fangs deep into our society and is literally and metaphorically draining the lifeblood of our country. Public officials that continue to befriend those involved in illegal activities (because they offer a ready-made list of bought, intimidated or die-hard voters) are putting politics before the national good. The U.S. will always remain attractive to our people, in spite of its scariness, because we are even scarier. Until this situation changes, nothing else will.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
