Jah Foresight, Contributor
APRIL IS now in our face, and May is watching us keenly. I must say that 2006 is moving so fast and shortly 2007 will be knocking on our door. Everyone is having a fear factor at this time of the year.
The rainfall has started and people are just getting nervous. Just mention the words hurricanes Emily, Wilma or Ivan, and these Jamaicans become a living nightmare. Pain is instantly written over their faces. I cannot forget Ivan when I had to sleep outside for about 13 days.
Another major problem is that people have built houses in areas that are not suitable, with poor drainage history. There are some developers who have simply tricked their clients. The next thing is that some households have too much concrete in their small space. The water does not get the chance to percolate into the ground and simply run off. Consider this, one man and another and another equals several run-off which means flooding. Everybody wants to build on a hill and they will not build around the trees, but cut down the forest and changed the laws of nature. Now everyone is scared of the word hurricane and wish that there will be no rain for 2006, without considering how we will wash our clothes and get water to drink.
SERIOUS SUGGESTIONS
Everyone is getting worked up about our new Prime Minister's proposal to get pastors on the boards of public sector entities. I think that we take the suggestion too seriously. She just wants to ensure that there is some high level of morality and some amount of respectability. I think she should also consider the 'Rasta man' as well. There are a lot of true Rasta men, like myself, who will never bow to Babylon corruption. So, Madame Prime Minister, I am awaiting my appointment.
I am a little sad about what is taking place with our teachers. First, they have to back off the Memorandum of Understanding due to the paltry pay offer that was placed on the table. It concerns me, since my queen and mother are teachers. Now, they have so little value that they are under attack by both parents and students. Imagine a student slashing a male teacher in his forehead, a person who could have been his grandfather. I would love to know how these parents for these butchers really feel. I think the justice system should increase the penalty on any attack on educational institutions. We need to study how the Americans deal with their inner-city schools. Our children have lost several screws and we better accept it.
This is not a laughing matter. The big story this week was the attack on the homosexual at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus. Twenty years ago, when I was as a teenager and I did not know anything about lotto and winning money, I was a student, living on campus. I remember one evening, after a hot game of football, we went to the bathroom to have a refreshing shower. While washing skin, a strange fellow walked in, stripped his clothes and stood with his apparatus in hand, waiting and watching. After realising what was taking place, naturally we had to launch an attack. You might say, 'so uncivilised'.
MASCULINITY MEANS A LOT
Most students who live on campus are either from rural Jamaica or down the Caribbean islands. We are used to living in close communities where everybody knows everyone, like in Bamboo, St. Ann. You can imagine that Jah Foresight from Bamboo is a homosexual in Kingston and my own people from my village hear that! I simply could not go back. I know several practising homosexuals who simply cannot go back to their village for the rest of their lives.
Masculinity means a lot to country heterosexual men. You can be a homosexual in the city, especially uptown, and no one really cares about the sexuality of their neighbours. So when you hear that fire or rock stone fling, ignore it, men just a defend their existence. You can imagine, if Mutty is reading this column, he will say, he must be from the intellectual ghetto, but Rasta men have to support certain flames and we adore lovely ladies. By the way, everyone in Jamaica knows the number for homosexuality and I predict that the number will be in your face for the next few days.
This is the first time since the beginning of the year that the jackpot has been over $20 million. I can predict that this jackpot will continue to rise into next week. I will also tell you that it is now very crucial that you read some of the older columns. You should now study them just like you should for a treat by the university. Go out and buy your tickets.
Keep it lock at jahforesight@hotmail.com.
