SOME J’CANS ARE TOO ANGRY AND ABUSIVE
Listen nuh. Monday morning gone, I witnessed another glaring example of the seemingly small things that we need to fix fast if we want to make a big difference in curbing lawlessness and indiscipline in our country. As I stood in line at the Western Union outlet on Old Hope Road, a man behind me started using his cell phone to take photos of the board that posted the daily foreign currency exchange rates. The security officer on duty walked up to him, and in an unthreatening and professional tone of voice, gently informed the man that taking pictures of the board is prohibited. Well, in typical Jamaican macho bad man style, the man flipped!
INSULTING THE SECURITY GUARD
He started out by instantly insulting and unfairly accusing the security officer. Yep, he styled him as ‘security bwoy’, and accused him of abusing his authority, while aggressively demanding to know what’s wrong with taking a picture. Without losing his cool, without responding to the unprovoked insult or the unwarranted accusation, the officer quietly informed the man that taking photographs of the board is against the company’s polices. But it didn’t make a difference. The ‘cross and angry’ train had already left the station and was now vociferously thundering down the track. The man went on and on with a loud, threatening tirade of profane protestations. He indirectly intimated violent intentions, asserting that the security officer can only use or carry gun ‘in yah so’. And he went for all the terms frequently used in tracing matches to put down people or diminish their character. So, yuh know, the humble security guard was repeatedly referred to as a part of the female genitalia, dismissively denounced as a ‘bow cat’ and caustically condemned by that derogatory description of male homosexuals. The enraged customer even expanded the Jamaican list of nasty names by describing the security officer as a ‘john-crow inna jacket!’
I’ve said it before in this space; too many of us Jamaicans have a ‘DNA’ problem. D for defiant, N for negative and A for angry! And that man was a prime exemplar of that DNA at its worst. He was riotously rude, arrogantly abusive and definitely disrespectful. It was ugly, and it was uncalled for. Before I left, I made of point of offering a word of encouragement to the security officer. And I’m praying that the angry man finds some peace. Join me nuh!
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