So, news broke yesterday that Buju Banton got sentenced to 10 years in prison and my Facebook page and my Blackberry have been inundated with messages and all manner of social commentary lamenting the fact that the Gargamel will be locked away for a while.

I don't care, I am bloody annoyed. So, he gets 10 years, get over it. In the eyes of the jury, he did the crime now he does the time. Can we move on already?

Oh, I know we all love Buju. I have his CDs, my wife adores his music but you know what if he put himself in the position to be accused of and found guilty of serious criminal offences, shouldn't we be mad at him for getting into that 'scrape'. But in Jamaica today that wouldn't be the norm, now would it?

We have to find a way to blame someone else, something else for what Buju has got himself into. Yes, the white man set him up, yes, the snitch set him up; yeessss, everyone else is to blame but Buju himself. A couple of weeks ago, a pastor was exonerated on charges of sexual misconduct despite evidence to the contrary and except for the occasional outcry, there was startling silence. What are we saying then, that the state of mind of two of our young girls is of lesser importance than that of an entertainer convicted of drug dealing?

Last week, three inept commissioners found that no one was to blame for the bungling of the Christopher Coke extradition request that subsequently led to the death of perhaps a 100 people last year May, and we find that distracting. But for Buju we are outraged?

The police say that criminal gangs are responsible for 80 per cent of the nation's crime, crime that is preventing our economy from growing, creating jobs for the tens of thousands of unemployed and we completely ignore that, but Buju, having been convicted of serious crimes, gets our sympathy.

what Buju means to us

I understand what Buju means to us. He is a reminder of a time when the music, reggae and dancehall meant something to Jamaicans other than noise and songs of sexual misconduct and murder and mayhem but guess what, the reality is that maybe Buju isn't who we thought he was. Maybe he had managed to pull the wool over our eyes, wool that has now been lifted and now we can see clearly. The big issue is that we don't trust our eyes, it seems. We can't seem to accept what we see.

It could be that we are having trouble separating the man from his music and if that is the case, then I empathise but let us not pretend that this is not happening, because it is. And I know we have a hard time facing reality in this country but Buju might be out in about eight years if he behaves. He will still be young enough to be relevant, old enough to be wiser. What we should pray for is that he uses the time to tap into that creative genius of his and find his way back to what made him great - his musical mastery and his powerful messages.

Had he stuck to that maybe he wouldn't be where he is today - locked up; locked away for a long time. What we should do now is pray that when he returns to us, he will be the Buju we all knew and loved - the one who gave us Psalm 23, Til Shiloh and Hills and Valleys, not the one who gave us Driver A.

In the meantime, we should take the time to start to learn to face reality.

Send comments to shearer39@gmail.com

I understand what Buju means to us. He is a reminder of a time when the music, reggae and dancehall meant something to Jamaicans other than noise and songs of sexual misconduct and murder and mayhem but guess what, the reality is that maybe Buju isn't who we thought he was. Maybe he had managed to pull the wool over our eyes, wool that has now been lifted and now we can see clearly. The big issue is that we don't trust our eyes, it seems. We can't seem to accept what we see.