land i love

i felt a bit gipped.
my mindset was prepared for india or africa.
dirt floors, no plumbing, no electricity.
i was ready.
instead i was sent here.
jamaica.

i agreed and took the challenge.
it was reminiscent of my youth.
in some way i viewed it as a chance meeting with my naive dreams.
i viewed jamaica as an extension of myself and my identity.
in some way i was given an opportunity to reach out to my people and my country.
we all have a similar story, territories fought over and exchanged like goods in the market,
left to fend for ourselves and strive for survival.
a headache and an eyesore forgotten about and left for dead once exploited.

once i saw it in this light my outlook changed,
i felt committed to making a difference.
looking into the eyes of children and seeing myself reflected was incentive enough.
through them i saw myself as a child.
fortunately i had been given a chance.
didn't they deserve the same right?

their history and story much like the rest of the caribbean
was now being offered up for tourists to gawk at and criticize from their buffet tables.
with a smile and a laugh they appease them in hopes to put food on their own tables.
families struggle to make ends meet.
the divide of city versus country;
deeply embedded roots so soon forgotten,
though both equally fighting to get through.

the true segregation of rich and poor.
meager earnings not nearly enough for one must support an entire family.
the bitter contrast of top of the line appliances to fireplaces,
one bedroom shacks to seven bedroom palaces,
kerosene lamps to chandeliers...

women and men bartering themselves off to the highest bidders.
one's pleasure, another's painful reality.
self-worth based solely on income, at whatever cost and sacrifice.
the extreme becomes the norm...
and so it continues from generation to generation.

violence and passion, the two-fold handshake of an land full of contradiction.
the beauty and the severity of it merged to provide a foundation
for lives to be taken away just as easily as they are commenced.
a people, so diverse, made humble through their long suffering and persecution.
a society formed from a global melting pot, visions of united nations;
out of many, one people.

stories of hardships and perseverance are masked by the present day situation.
youth wasting their lives away for trivial pursuits and short term fulfillment,
blinded by the end product, promise of wealth, and ease of labor.
so many raised without affection or encouragement,
left to figure out the life their parents have passed along.