There is a book now making the rounds slowly, subtly and secretly. It is titled The Dead Yard: Tales of Modern Jamaica and its author is Ian Thomson. He was welcomed by a select group of the island's residents into their homes to talk with them about the book. It turns out that from the early pages, there was some interesting if unpalatable things about our country and its people.

But you have to go out and get your own copy. Give it away for birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries and to all your children now entering tertiary institutions. Jamaica is slipping over the edge. Too many external influences are making us forget to love ourselves. Too many electronic voices are feeding bad information into our brains, at high volume, and we do not have the time to hear from society's genuine elders and our mothers.

Yes, our mothers. Why are so many mothers not teaching their sons to respect life, women, children and each other? Why is it easier to pick up a gun than a pen, book or tool of trade? What is wrong with the dignity of hard work and learning a skill if academic capacity is lacking? Why is it easy for young boys and girls to hate their skin colour and resort to bleaching agents?

Values

When mothers return to training their girls to value their bodies and wait till after a career for babies and boyfriends to dominate their focus, we will also turn the corner on self-love and brotherly/sisterly love. When it is more important to supervise homework than to lock up children in the house, leaving them at risk while going out to party, we would have started to practise proper values.

When we start to make it uncomfortable for foreigners to come to Jamaica and go back to their homes to distort our truths, while profiteering from the act, we would have started to show future generations that being patriotic is more than merely wearing black, green and gold when Bolt wins a race.

Check out The Dead Yard at amazon.com or have your family and friends purchase a copy in London for 14 pounds 99 pence.

lifestyle@gleanerjm.com