By Vernon Daley, Staff Reporter 
Inside Gordon House. - File
ONE OF the unfortunate things about Jamaicans is our inability to see danger unless it's clear and present.
The flaw might be forgiven in the ordinary man but for those holding positions of leadership, I think its only reasonable that they should possess the foresight to head off disaster before it occurs.
Take, for example, the issue of security at Gordon House, the seat of the nation's Parliament. It might come as a surprise to some but up to a week and a half ago, a stranger could literally just walk right off the streets and into the building without being challenged.
All you had to do was look semi-decent and the policemen who stand at the entrance while the House is sitting wouldn't even as much as look at you suspiciously. And even when the metal detector sounds off as you push through the door, the noise was more an annoyance to them than it was a signal to check whether you had in your possession a weapon that might turn into some brutal account.
Are we serious?
The Parliament is the place in which on any given Tuesday we can find a fair number of the nation's political leaders. Can you even begin to wrap your mind around the possibility of Colombine-style shooting in Gordon House. Of course not. This is Jamaica, we don't have a history of killing our leaders. That would never happen here.
Well, that is apparently the attitude of the management of the Parliament and by the look of it, some of the Parliamentarians themselves. They just can't see the danger until it's clear and present.
How else can one explain the looseness in security that existed at the building up until recently. It's hard to imagine why security arrangements were not stepped up earlier when one considers that there was a reported firebomb attack just over seven weeks ago followed by a bomb threat four weeks later. And let's not forget that the building was actually firebombed in 1998, causing extensive damage to both the interior and exterior.
It took an article in this newspaper to highlight the problem before the number of security personnel were increased and more stringent checking instituted for strangers entering the building. The management of the Parliament and the nation's leaders ought to have been more alert about this very important issue.
We have been spared a tragedy despite this abysmal laxity. Will those responsible slip back into complacency? Another slip-up like this and we all might not be so lucky the next time.
