Some ideas threaten the entire fabric of our belief system, the value system anchored to it, and the decisions and behaviour that flow from both. They threaten our entire constructed identity. No wonder then, that we vehemently protect ourselves from these dangerous ideas and have constructed semi- impregnable prophylactic psychic defenses to prevent the sperm of these ideas ever fertilizing our minds and engendering change with its attendant discomforts. We have spent years constructing our ego – our sense of self – what’s right and wrong for us; what we see as true and false. The idea of all that energy wasted is entirely discombobulating.
One such idea I heard uttered at a potentially culture transforming conference in 2011. Of course, with consummate skill, we managed to skillfully not hear what was said while congratulating the speaker on a tremendous presentation. I’ve grown to understand our ‘talk shop’ culture, our celebration of hypocrisy. Our need at all costs to hide our own insecurities.
Who could imagine after all a culture of truth, or Justice for that matter? So we build churches where we proclaim to worship Jesus as a cover for our real real gods worshiped clandestinely – Anancy and Henry Morgan.
Deceit and Thuggery could never be worshiped in the open. They demand a cloak of darkness. So we hide our truth from our very selves…..conscience cant be trusted to keep a secret.
But it was a patently simple idea Dr. John Perkins shared from the pulpit at CLF on the opening session of the Christian Community Development Conference in 2011:
“I believe in the inherent dignity of people with problems.”
On that axiom is based the creed of the Christian Community Development Association of America he co-founded.
” We go to the people. We live among them. We learn from them. We start with what they know. we build on what they have. And the best leaders, when their task is done, the people say, (truthfully) “We’ve done it ourselves”.
What’s radical in this philosophy is that it immediately disqualifies manipulation and deception as a modus operandi. To actually impute dignity to people (other than self) disqualifies disdain, condescension, scorn, gossip and most other normative Jamaican behaviours and attitudes we skillfully hide from ourselves, lest we discover we are not who we think we are, even when our society is screaming at us the reflection of our true values.
I doubt many jamaicans reading this might even understand the observation. And I am aware of how condescending that sounds; but have no need to defend or qualify the words…..beyond noting that there was great wisdom in Father Sherlock’s penning into Jamaica’s national prayer/ anthem – so that we might forever sing it and perhaps one day actually reflect on its meaning: “Teach us true respect for all”.
YeKengalé 