The Editor, Sir:

My erstwhile classmate, Peter Espeut, must know how it feels to be a voice of one crying in the wilderness! Having read his pleadings again, about things environmental, I wonder when we will muster sufficient political will in Jamaica to lance the environmental boil long before the day it will inevitably 'buss' with worse consequences than proactive responses now?

If we think there is danger in the 'prophecies' you have recently published, Mr. Editor, we better think again. Espeut's environmental articles are, to me, real prophetic warnings about what we are doing to "Israel" and what the consequences will be. My God! Who is listening? We continue to over-fish, we continue deforestation, we continue to encroach on our water ways - the ones we have not completely polluted - we continue to destroy our beaches, we continue to set up ourselves for heavy dependence on fossil fuels and its concomitant pollution. Ignoring the prophet has never made good sense. If Jamaica wants to talk about prophecies, Espeut's will go the distance. Hear ye him.

I wish I could prophesy that our honourable Prime Minister, in 2007, would take a paradigmatic interest in things environmental as deeply as she would things electoral! The care for our environment is a primary moral issue in the Bible, arising long before murder. An astute - if not godly - political administration should be consummately concerned about this.

Additionally, a government that puts people first and desires an unprecedented fifth term in the future should be motivated by the African proverb that says, "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors - we borrow it from our children." May God therefore have mercy on our children and the next Jamaican generation.

I am, etc.,

Rev. Dr. MICHAEL FRIDAY

rev_manfriday@hotmail.com

Bellevue, Nebraska

Via Go-Jamaica