In less than two weeks, the ICC World Cup of Cricket begins and man, I can't tell you how excited I am. Because of where I am I don't believe I will be able to see the West Indies play during the first round of competition but I am sure as hell going to watch South Africa take on the slumping Australians in St. Kitts on March 24. Oooh, I'm so excited!

Anyway, there are some things that trouble me as it relates to Jamaica's preparation for the event. Before I go on though, let me clarify that I really don't have a problem with the Government fixing up our 'home' as guests are about to arrive because we want to leave a good impression, hoping they come back. Well, providing that we will be able to keep them alive once they get there.

However, the Government recently got a dozen new ambulances in time for the start of the competition and a whole lot of cleaning up is going on even as bureaucracy threatens to get in the way.

The question I want to ask is why should it take an international competition for us to get things that we should have had in the first place? The way I see it, if your house is tidy to begin with, even if guests drop in unexpectedly then you have no worries about being embarrassed. I mean, look how long many of our hospitals have been without ambulances and other essential equipment, and I am sure the argument was that there was not enough money to get these things. So where is all this money coming from all of a sudden?

It's similar to if you're sharing house with someone and you pool your resources to buy groceries and other household items but when stuff runs out, the person who controls the money claims that there isn't enough to get what is needed. But, as soon as his girlfriend announces that she is paying a visit, money miraculously appears to get stuff to load the fridge and the cupboards. His housemate will naturally have questions about where all this money suddenly came from.

Now, we're also hearing that the city of Kingston will be cleaned up in the days prior to the start of the World Cup. Why couldn't the city be just clean to begin with? Why is it that we're now "stuffing dirty clothes and shoes and stuff into the closet", hiding it until our guests leave? I don't like what this suggests.

This kind of behaviour suggests that we can do better but only if we're forced to and that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If we can do better, we should just do better, period, not wait for a special occasion to do so. And then we wonder why there are so many disgruntled people running around the place, selling drugs, buying guns, and killing people.

What it is also saying is that perhaps we need to have a World Cup or the Queen to visit or some other major event every year until the end of time if we are to get what we deserve as a people. Or better yet, since the first option is never going to be a viable option, maybe we need to change the way we think about what it means to represent the people who pay their taxes in the hope that they can have a decent life, enjoying decent living conditions and not have to worry so much that each day they wake up in Jamaica could be their last.

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