I think I have figured out why Jamaicans tend to thrive anywhere they go in this world.

In these difficult economic times, Jamaicans tend to be able to find ways and means of rising above the fray. In the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom everyone is struggling but Jamaicans are doing better than just keeping their heads above water. The question is why?

The answer is very simple. If you grew up in Jamaica over the past 35 years or so, economic hardships are nothing new. You see, the secret is that Jamaica has for the past 30 years or so been in constant recession.

When the world is booming, Jamaica is in recession. When the world is in recession, Jamaicans hardly notice the difference because we were already struggling to make ends meet. It is largely why when our brothers and sisters migrate they are able to accomplish things within a relatively short time.

I have friends who migrated to the US and Canada less than 10 years ago, and in that time they have managed to accomplish things there that they were unable to in their lifetimes here.

There is this feeling now that the Jamaican dollar is about to hit the skids again. This week, the dollar was trading at 92 to one United States dollar. In some places I am told one US dollar was selling for as much as 95 Jamaican dollars. At this rate 100 to 1 looks a distinct possibility by Christmas. This probably means that Christmas is going to be scaled down a bit these coming holidays. That means, a few less parties will be attended, a few less presents will be under Christmas trees, a few boyfriends will go AWOL while their girlfriends will find themselves wondering why, and a few more Jamaicans will start thinking really seriously about looking to Canada or the United States as the next place they will call home.

recession

They will look to these countries because most of us know that in those countries, recession looks like boom time to Jamaicans. Everything they say is relative. Hard times in 'foreign' look like very good times to Jamaicans because here at home everything is a nightmare. I think it was Howard Hamilton who said recently that governments of this country adopt populist policies that really get us nowhere but gets them re-elected every four years or so. Jamaicans, stuck between a rock and a hard place, must now find new ways to earn that extra dollar or think creatively about how to get out of Dodge before things get worse.

The thing that amazes me is that our leaders don't seem to have any idea about how to get Jamaica out of this constant cycle of despair. Why; perhaps they don't care. After all, they do have the Consolidated Fund to dip into every so often, buying expensive gifts for themselves even as Jamaicans, ravaged by hard times and natural disasters, wonder how they will return to the lives they once knew.

They are wishing right now that they had a visa to somewhere else; anywhere else.

It is what this country has become, a nightmare upon the people who live here and work overtime trying to climb up that very slippery slope to success. And it is not going to get any easier. Under the present conditions, that slope, slippery as it is, might not even exist in the very near future.

It is why for many Jamaicans the grass is always greener on the other side and why once they get there they thrive.

Send comments to levyl1@hotmail.com

When the world is booming, Jamaica is in recession. When the world is in recession, Jamaicans hardly notice the difference because we were already struggling to make ends meet.