Barnett

We all know that if we dump garbage into the gullies, we will have floods ... but we do so anyway. We know that if we build by the gully banks - our homes are likely to go with the first tropical storm that comes our way - but that's a chance we still take. We use plastic (scandal) bags to package from food to clothes - even though we know that they are not bio-degradable, and that we are merely putting off the disposal problem for generations to come.

Our environment literally supports us - keeps us alive ... yet we take almost every opportunity possible to ruin and depreciate it. The irony though is while we knowingly engage in such actions - we exhibit dismay and shock at the consequences. Many of us can relate to this on a more personal level - we eat all the wrong foods, maintain a sedentary lifestyle and are surprised when we become overweight - or heaven forbid, get ill. How do we exit this maelstrom of self-destruction? Tough love.

Requisite punishment

The culmination of admonitions that comes when a child repeatedly misbehaves is often called 'tough love'. Some of us have been on the delivering end while others on the receiving end. Tough love essentially is the requisite punishment packaged and delivered minus any emotion that may convey sympathy or understanding. It embodies the actions deemed necessary when all else has failed, even while recognising that the measures may be harsh and considered heartless. It is thought to be the antidote necessary to intervene and halt the inevitable, often irreparable damage being effected. Tough love emerges naturally when we reach the end of the line.

Jamaica as a small island developing state is a force to be reckoned with on the international scene - be it in sports, music, food, beauty or intellectual capital. However, it is blatantly clear that varying levels of intervention are needed in our education system, social, health care and environmental services ... in short - our economy. This presents the ideal scenario for some tough love. There is no doubt that we are about to receive this, and while originating externally it will be administered locally in dosages which will naturally be commensurate with the ailment.

Semblance of seriousness

Yes, tough love will have to be dispensed in order to provide some semblance of seriousness about stabilising the economy. Positive, albeit minor trends have recently been recorded in the country's huge import bill, negligible exports, and local food production. On the other hand, the massive public sector wage bill and continued scant regard for our resources - be it time, effort or the more tangible - are all areas that could do with some tough love. And as the wayward child resigns himself to the punishment that is coming, preparing to steel himself against the pain to be inflicted, so it appears that the waiting game begins.

One cannot help, but wonder whether some pragmatic solutions reside within our very reach that if self-inflicted may be less dis-tasteful. Of course this means that we need to put country first, be more objective and less about guarding turf. It also will require us to utilise this period of intro-spection for harmonised strategising, increasing efficiency and advancing innovations for achieving Jamaica's yet unfulfilled promise.

Dr Audia Barnett is executive director of the Scientific Research Council. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com