Dear Editor,
One day, in 1976, I stopped at the traffic lights on East Street. Almost immediately, a spanking new Mercedes Benz pulled up beside my Datsun. I was in the process of admiring it when I discovered that the driver was a former classmate of mine. We stopped for liquid refreshments.
For the next 20 minutes, he explained, in anguish, how he ended up buying the Benz, but added that he would have been far more comfortable driving a 'little old Viva'. I wondered to myself, why would anyone who could afford it prefer a 'little old Viva'?
But that was the line of 'reasoning' the times required -- if you were 'conscious'. The new elite were suggesting that those Jamaicans who, by dint of hard work and creativity, had become successful were really shady characters; "rapacious capitalists" they were called. Profit was a dirty word. The word 'sufferer' was the new badge of honour, and one needed to be a little unkempt with a 'tam' to be seen as fully 'conscious'.
By the end of that decade, analysts claimed that our economy had lost 25 per cent of its value. Owners of near-empty supermarkets were 'marrying' tampons with bubble gum. And well coiffed, upper St Andrew housewives were scratching and kicking each other to get the few remaining bags of rice on shelves.
These were the memories that came flooding back to me when I heard Finance Minister Peter Phillips -- a disciple of the 70s -- ranting and making worrying innuendos about the size of the house Opposition Leader Andrew Holness and his wife are building, while delivering a campaign speech.
Interestingly, only last Friday, a group of very well-known Jamaicans kindly invited me to join them for lunch.
It would seem to me that the kind of emotions that part of his speech was likely to evoke were envy -- 'red eye'.
Since the prime minister is waiting from a sign from God to call the election, it would do the party well to note what the Bible says about these emotions. Like Proverbs 14: 30: "A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot."
The subject of Holness came up, and the only aspect on which there was consensus was the skill and quality of Mrs Holness's work as a real estate developer. Everyone was impressed with her professionalism.
I would love to own Holness's house. Or one like it. And I would love to own a Mercedes like my late classmate's. The message that needs to be sent to the society is that nothing is wrong with owning the very best if it can be acquired honestly.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask, no, beg Minister Phillips, and the other legatees of that 70s era, not to go down that road again.
Glenn Tucker
Stony Hill
glenntucker2011@gmail.com
This is not the 70s; leave Holness's house alone
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One day, in 1976, I stopped at the traffic lights on East Street. Almost immediately, a spanking new Mercedes Benz pulled up beside my Datsun. I was in the process of admiring it when I discovered that the driver was a former classmate of mine. We stopped for liquid refreshments.
For the next 20 minutes, he explained, in anguish, how he ended up buying the Benz, but added that he would have been far more comfortable driving a 'little old Viva'. I wondered to myself, why would anyone who could afford it prefer a 'little old Viva'?
But that was the line of 'reasoning' the times required -- if you were 'conscious'. The new elite were suggesting that those Jamaicans who, by dint of hard work and creativity, had become successful were really shady characters; "rapacious capitalists" they were called. Profit was a dirty word. The word 'sufferer' was the new badge of honour, and one needed to be a little unkempt with a 'tam' to be seen as fully 'conscious'.
By the end of that decade, analysts claimed that our economy had lost 25 per cent of its value. Owners of near-empty supermarkets were 'marrying' tampons with bubble gum. And well coiffed, upper St Andrew housewives were scratching and kicking each other to get the few remaining bags of rice on shelves.
These were the memories that came flooding back to me when I heard Finance Minister Peter Phillips -- a disciple of the 70s -- ranting and making worrying innuendos about the size of the house Opposition Leader Andrew Holness and his wife are building, while delivering a campaign speech.
Interestingly, only last Friday, a group of very well-known Jamaicans kindly invited me to join them for lunch.
It would seem to me that the kind of emotions that part of his speech was likely to evoke were envy -- 'red eye'.
Since the prime minister is waiting from a sign from God to call the election, it would do the party well to note what the Bible says about these emotions. Like Proverbs 14: 30: "A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot."
The subject of Holness came up, and the only aspect on which there was consensus was the skill and quality of Mrs Holness's work as a real estate developer. Everyone was impressed with her professionalism.
I would love to own Holness's house. Or one like it. And I would love to own a Mercedes like my late classmate's. The message that needs to be sent to the society is that nothing is wrong with owning the very best if it can be acquired honestly.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask, no, beg Minister Phillips, and the other legatees of that 70s era, not to go down that road again.
Glenn Tucker
Stony Hill
glenntucker2011@gmail.com
This is not the 70s; leave Holness's house alone
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