Mario James, Gleaner Writer

Fabian McKenzie (right) poses with new friend, biker Donna Murray, at JamWest race track in Negril last month. - Photo by Mario James

NOTHING REINFORCES the bond between father and son like time spent in each other's company. I have no children, but one of the best times I had with my father was when he and a close family friend made a trip out to Vernamfield when I was 10. He was rewarding me for my common entrance pass.

The experience further heightened my respect for him as he was very knowledgeable, and he, almost effortlessly, fielded the mountain of questions I had. We laughed and shouted together and had a whale of a time, and at the end of it we were as thick as thieves.

The male of our species has been marginalised, emasculated and vilified in the media. This has severely eroded the image of the mature man in his kids' eyesight. How could it be otherwise? We are the cause of our own undoing, it is true. But this infamy is perpetually regurgitated by the media, until what was once shocking is now accepted practice. The mindless attack of the 'establishment' on the institution that is the Jamaican male in movies, on the radio, on stage and in print has castrated the efforts of the few to change the course of the herd.

Legacy

And for what? The mere redistribution of wealth among the rich was never a good way to bring up a country. Woe betide the future of the level-headed Jamaican man, for it is not on his prowess alone that he will be judged, but also on the legacy he has left for, and the success of, his children. The very reason for being. The image the media portrays paints us in a new, harsh light; it illuminates and brings to the fore the faults and foibles common to us all, colouring the good and the indifferent with rays of societal discontent. It takes truly ingenious and creative thinking to survive in these waters, to slay those dragons and appear as viable alternatives to the stereotypes flung at our children media-wise.

Recently I had the pleasure of carrying a next door neighbour's grandson, Fabian Mckenzie, to an event similar to the one my father took me at age 10.

The neighbour's grandson was older than I was when I went with my dad, but instead of that becoming a gap to be bridged, the spectacle that was NevaSatisfy'd held at JamWest race track in Negril brought out questions that I had to field. His eagerness to learn and the 'car-ma' like commonality that surrounds all car guys surrounded us that day, and was fed by the sounds and sights of serious horsepower. When Dean Shaw lit his '69 Camaro down the 1320 he saw what was arguably the Caribbean's fastest doorslammer post an eight second run at over 150 mph.

Fabian's words will forever reverberate between my ears. "Uncle Mario, this is one of the best days of my life!" That told me that although the waters are treacherous, dragons can be slain.