As the recession deepens, the standard of living of many Jamaicans has declined. By all indications, the months ahead are going to be worse. The questions that I would like to pose are: Why is Jamaica still struggling? Why do we remain poor? Here are some thoughts on the matter.

1. Poor: Recently, someone shared with me that POOR stands for Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly. Individually and collectively, many of us remain poor because we fail to take hold of opportunities that pass us every day. As a nation, we have had many opportunities to set ourselves straight, but we fail to take them.

2. Possibility thinking: I note that the Jamaica Money Market Brokers is emphasising the need for possibility thinking. What do we mean by possibility thinking? It means that we all should begin to think of the possibilities that exist in our personal lives. There are possibilities for personal growth, transformation and to achieve more. There are also opportunities to improve ourselves, our group, our families and our countries.

3. Take responsibility: Possibility thinking is about taking responsibility for our lives - but this is a major challenge in Jamaica. Slavery as a system robbed us of that great sense of responsibility. We were never encouraged to take responsibility for our lives. We worked and were fed by the master. The slaves had children and the master owned them. The slave did not even assume responsibility for his own offspring and family. This mentality is still rooted in our psyche. We believe that someone else is responsible for us.

The political system reinforces this and many of us do believe that it is the Government's responsibility to care for us. So, even in the current economic crisis, many of us are expecting the International Monetary Fund to fix our problems and are hoping to continue to borrow our way out of the crisis. Jamaica has finally got to wake up and recognise that this time around there is no country or organisation to bail us out.

4. Reframe the crisis: This current crisis may be a blessing in disguise. The Chinese word for crisis literally means 'danger' and 'opportunity'. The take-away lesson is that behind every crisis looms many opportunities. Let us remember that tough times do not last forever, tough people do. But if we are going to last as a people, we must work ourselves out of the crisis by creating opportunities.

5. Let us seek opportunity: Our major challenges include growing the economy, creating jobs and ensuring that most Jamaicans can legally participate in the economic life of the country. We should confront our problems without being overwhelmed by them. Let's make the mental shift to focus on solutions and opportunities that exist to renew ourselves, to grow, to create jobs and to make money.

Dr Wendel Abel is a consultant psychiatrist and head, Section of Psychiatry, Department Of Community Health and Psychiatry, University of the West Indies, 977-1108; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.

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