To Hell With The Future?

The Bible says, “Man shall not live by bread alone … .” Perhaps the members of Damian Crawford’s East Rural St Andrew constituency have never heard that saying before, or, if they have, maybe they don’t believe it and think that “daily bread” from the hands of an MP will be enough to sustain them and their children for many generations to come.

While Crawford’s decision to use a significant portion of his Constituency Development Fund allocation – J$5,439,200 to be exact – on education is welcome by some as a step in the right direction, his constituents – the very parents of the children he proposes to help – are livid. They’re on TV every night threatening to significantly damage Crawford’s young career.

As with any news story, I do not know ALL the details, and I’m sure that there are more and deeper issues than we are being told. However, arguing from the assumption that what I’ve heard and the impression I’ve received is accurate, I have to ask: why is it that, when faced with a choice between a sacrificial, long-term investment in our children’s future and an immediate bellyful, we seem prone to choose the latter?  It bothers me that we make decisions about our children’s futures the same way we make decisions about the nation’s political future: who can full my belly fastest? This coarse, gravalicious mentality has been, for a very long time, the undoing of this nation.

When parents live for today only, they sacrifice tomorrow. These parents want their bread NOW, and what their attitude says to me, and to all well-thinking young persons in this nation is, “To hell with you; to hell with the future; to HELL with our children!”

Forgive me. Had to rant today.