The Editor, Sir:

On Friday, October 16, about 7:35 p.m. the driver of a Toyota coaster bus overtook me on Constant Spring Road going south just below Mary Brown's Corner in the vicinity of Oaklands, as part of a group of drivers racing together. When the bus got in front of me, I could see through its rear window a flat screen monitor, no less than 20 inches in size, located in the front of the bus beside the driver in the place where a rear-view mirror would normally be. On the screen was being shown lewd, obscene and explicit unmitigated pornography, purporting to be dancing, at what appeared to be an open dancehall setting.

I attempted to get close enough to the bus to read the licence number, so that it could be reported to the police. I was not able to do so until we reached in the vicinity of Cargill Avenue because of the speed of the group of buses and their indisciplined weaving through the traffic. I eventually reported the offending driver to a female officer on duty at the Police Control at 119 approximately 7:45 p.m. I trust that there was effective follow-up and prosecution.

Offensive

I have taken the liberty of writing openly about this because of the destruction it causes to the minds of all those who are exposed to it, whether willingly or unwittingly. Willingly because there are those in our society who seem to find nothing wrong with the open display of sex, drug use, or violent actions or reactions. Unwittingly, because an innocent boarding of the bus will result in unplanned and undesired exposure to pornography. I believe, however, that there is a great majority of Jamaicans who find displays such as these offensive, and who deem it their right to be able to use public transport and public spaces without being subject to sights or sounds that debase sexuality to the level of unrestrained animals. What people wish to do in private is their business. What they do in public is the business of us all, and of the state.

I shudder to think how the mind of a teenager on that bus on his or her way to a church young people's meeting would be affected. No amount of prayer can erase the impression, however fleeting, made on that still malleable young mind. It is seared in forever. We may, if we become aware of the experience, be able to mitigate the damage, but the memory will always be there, sometimes perhaps waiting for the 'perfect-storm set-up' to be unleashed. Where, further, that young mind is devoid of strong positive parental or community guidance, and especially so for our young men for whom strong male role-modelling is less likely, the consequences become even more devastating.

Actions such as seen on that bus are preventable, and are certainly sanctionable. "Evil flourishes when good men keep silent". There are enough good men and women in our society to combat and conquer the declining standards in Jamaica. The real question that needs to be answered, individually and collectively, is whether these men and women are willing to pay the price of standing up for what is good and right for our beloved Jamaica. The price of the alternative is further decline, ultimate decay of values of decency, respect and human worth, and the destruction of our society as we know it today.

This is the period of the year when we consciously reflect on our heritage and national heroes. Are there any heroes or heroines being made today? Are we satisfied to remain unaffected by and unresponsive to the great challenge? God help us if the general answer is "bwoy, dat one bigga dan me, mek s'mady else deal wid dat!"

I am, etc.,

Lt Cdr JOHN A. MCFARLANE

Justice of the Peace

St Andrew