Dear Editor,
No one can deny that the world today is nowhere near what it was like 20, or even 10, years ago. What with the Internet, cloning, 9/11, and a rover landing on Mars; we are living in times where we have to wonder seriously what is coming next.
Even old proverbs have not been immune to the effects of the passage of time, and we now see some of them being rendered inaccurate, and in some instances obsolete. Take, for example, the one that says "Better late than never," I seriously doubt people diagnosed with cancer or AIDS would agree with that. There is also one that warns against "Looking a gift horse in the mouth". With this in mind I see where the Chinese people have taken a noticeable interest in Jamaica of late.
As recent as yesterday, it was reported that the Chinese Government will be making $3 billion of concessionary loans available to a few Caribbean nations, including Jamaica. Is there anyone out there still naïve enough to think that this is merely a good neighbourly act on the part of the Chinese?
Jamaica can ill afford to look this gift horse in the mouth, as we are in dire financial straits. In the meantime, the Jamaican Government patiently waits for the other shoe to drop.
Please don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the Chinese, but I can't help feeling like I now have an idea how the American Indians felt when they saw the first white settlers moving in.
Based on the evidence in the commercial districts near where I live I wouldn't be surprised if Jamaica, in a few years from now, became another "Chinatown". At the end of the day all this could make the current spirited debates re Jamaican Standard English and patois as obsolete as some of the proverbs/idioms, since the language of the Chinese could displace them both! Ridiculous? What did the Jamaican proverb about the longest river say again?
Robert Mitchell
Christiana PO
Manchester
mitcib@yahoo.ca
Looking the Chinese gift horse in the mouth
-->
No one can deny that the world today is nowhere near what it was like 20, or even 10, years ago. What with the Internet, cloning, 9/11, and a rover landing on Mars; we are living in times where we have to wonder seriously what is coming next.
Even old proverbs have not been immune to the effects of the passage of time, and we now see some of them being rendered inaccurate, and in some instances obsolete. Take, for example, the one that says "Better late than never," I seriously doubt people diagnosed with cancer or AIDS would agree with that. There is also one that warns against "Looking a gift horse in the mouth". With this in mind I see where the Chinese people have taken a noticeable interest in Jamaica of late.
As recent as yesterday, it was reported that the Chinese Government will be making $3 billion of concessionary loans available to a few Caribbean nations, including Jamaica. Is there anyone out there still naïve enough to think that this is merely a good neighbourly act on the part of the Chinese?
Jamaica can ill afford to look this gift horse in the mouth, as we are in dire financial straits. In the meantime, the Jamaican Government patiently waits for the other shoe to drop.
Please don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the Chinese, but I can't help feeling like I now have an idea how the American Indians felt when they saw the first white settlers moving in.
Based on the evidence in the commercial districts near where I live I wouldn't be surprised if Jamaica, in a few years from now, became another "Chinatown". At the end of the day all this could make the current spirited debates re Jamaican Standard English and patois as obsolete as some of the proverbs/idioms, since the language of the Chinese could displace them both! Ridiculous? What did the Jamaican proverb about the longest river say again?
Robert Mitchell
Christiana PO
Manchester
mitcib@yahoo.ca
Looking the Chinese gift horse in the mouth
-->