The Editor, Sir:

I suspect that one of the main reasons Jamaica has so many problems today is that for decades it has exported a significant number of its most talented people. Like a country which has sent its best young men off to war, all it has left are children and grandparents.

So, when I read carefully Hunter Gray's Letter of the Day on Thursday, December 3, I was more than a little puzzled as to its meaning, if not amazed at the apparent hypocrisy of someone who offers advice but seems guilty of the same sin being criticised. He seems to be saying, "While I was back in Jamaica on vacation, I realised that only Jamaicans living in Jamaica could solve their own problems." The obvious contradiction comes when you realise this is his conclusion that is being offered as part of the solution.

On a third hand, often forgotten, there are at least a few of us who have given part of their lives to the betterment of Jamaica and who are not Jamaican. And our only sin is to be guilty of caring, apparently more than most Jamaicans themselves whether they are at home or abroad, about the future of the island and its people. Should we be ignored? What better source of criticism than an outsider's unbiased opinion?

Yes, Hunter, I agree that no solution worth its weight will ever be imposed upon the Jamaican people and despite all their faults, those living in Jamaica themselves will be in the end, the only ones held ultimately responsible for the future of their nation.

Unflinching dedication

But rather than discriminate against the Jamaican diaspora, or even we few concerned, survivors of its 'island fever', we who have shown a continuing, unflinching dedication and loyalty to a land which our particular ancestors might have had almost as much to do with as yours, perhaps it is better to let all concerned and well-meaning parties be given the opportunity to be heard, their ideas considered, their concerns and indeed their own motives questioned, and so on, in the long unending search for the best solutions to any nations problems, especially Jamaica's.

I am, etc.,

ED MCCOY

mmhobo48@juno.com

Bokeelia

Florida