Remember, too, ordinary folk who’ve died

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I SAW a headline a few days ago titled ‘Jamaicans we lost in 2018’. The article went on to highlight some persons who are more “well known” among us. I know the media entity that published it didn’t mean anything offensive, but what immediately rushed to my mind were the hundreds of other Jamaicans we lost tragically or violently.

I just wanted to use this space to reach out to the many Jamaicans who lost loved ones in 2018. You are not alone and you are not forgotten. I know this because some years ago, a woman had just had her baby (a son). Her husband, who was a young lawyer, was on his way either to or from the hospital, when he met into a terrible accident (on Hope Road) with another young man, who was attached to The University of the West Indies. They both died. It was so horrific. There are times when I think about this woman, how she coped, what she is doing now, and how her son is doing. I felt sad for her.

Among many, many other tragedies, there was the deadly attack on the young Jamaica College student on the Coaster bus just a couple of years ago. I hardly think about this young man without tears welling up in my eyes, perhaps because I, too, have a son. And in 2018, the young man mobbed, beaten and killed by a group of male students in Portland and the 14-year-old schoolgirl who was raped and murdered in Arnett Gardens.

I don’t bear physical signs of being affected by these events, but there are times when humanity alerts in me empathy for those among us who have been visited by all kinds of tragedies, especially those in violent circumstances. May you find the strength and courage to go on and may God bless us all.

A.C.B.