The Editor, Sir:

Walking in the middle of King Street, downtown Kingston, at 8:00 p.m. with my four- and two-year-olds recently was fantastic! And I use the word fantastic for its intended meaning.

I had to experience downtown last Wednesday first-hand. Not because I wanted to shop, but because I wanted, for a moment, to bask in the possibility of a thriving, crime-free city centre. For a few hours, I was transported (whether backward or forward) to a time when one could focus on just enjoying the environment without having to worry about crime.

I had a ball; and my children, especially the two year-old, did not want to leave. They were oblivious to any possible danger and ignorant of the abnormality of their outing. They were busy trying to negotiate with the vendors who enticed them with toys and hairclips. The elder child got her first bend-down plaza experience when she stopped to check out a pair of pink slippers with gold trimmings. To protect them from the fast-moving throng, I navigated the thinner lanes in the middle of the road. The closest we came to fear was when they found the Jonkonnu revellers scary.

Safety guarantee

Imagine how much more happy and productive we would all be if the reality of and apprehension about crime had not invaded and taken residence in our minds. How else could we be using that space and energy? What would our country look like if our minds were preoccupied with possibility thinking instead of constrained by anxious, reactive thought?

For one night, I felt safe in downtown Kingston, with my two little children, because a few authority figures issued a guarantee. I wonder what types of discussions, negotiations and agreements occurred to make this happen? And how we could replicate and convert this unique event to a more sustainable reality?

The success of Wednesday, December 16, suggests that our crime problems are not as insurmountable as some would have them appear to be, but that the right people just have to be motivated enough to participate in the solution - the right people, including me, who somehow believed that it would have been okay to venture downtown with my two children at night.

I am, etc.,

M. C. BROWN

Kingston