Alfred Dawes warns Jamaica is losing compassion amid violence and inequality

Opposition spokesman on health and wellness Dr Alfred Dawes has warned that Jamaica is becoming less caring toward people in hardship, saying too many citizens are turning “spiritually dead inside”.

Speaking Tuesday during the sectoral debate in the House of Representatives, Dawes said the country’s troubles cannot be measured only through physical or mental well-being. He said violence, inequality and political division point to what he sees as a serious weakening of spiritual health.

“I fear that we are losing our humanity because we have ignored the existence of our spiritual health, the final component of health,” Dawes said.

Dawes opened that part of his presentation by referring to Sunday’s fatal police shooting of Latoya “Buju” Bulgin in Granville, St James. The video of the incident was widely shared and triggered strong public anger.

“On Sunday I saw a woman gunned down in cold blood by one who had sworn. Then her body was pulled from the car by the feet like a carcass and thrown in the back of a van. Whereas due process must be allowed and justice must take its course, we all know what we saw, [and] what we saw was one woman losing her life and several men losing their humanity,” Dawes added.

He said many people have grown numb to pain and are prepared to justify exploitation, mistreatment and unfairness when party allegiance or personal benefit is involved.

“We have become polarised by party politics so much that some would defend the exploitation and abuse of others because our core desire to be a part of the party collective is greater than our God-instilled desire to defend the vulnerable,” Dawes said.

The Opposition spokesman also took aim at what he described as sharper class separation and prejudice in Jamaican society.

“We have rationalised our partiality by reducing human lives to lesser beings based on their address, the shade of their skin, and the size of their bank accounts, and in doing so we are destroying our own spiritual health,” he argued.

According to Dawes, some Jamaicans may appear healthy and successful on the outside while becoming cut off from the distress facing others around them.

“Too many Jamaicans are physically fit, mentally stable, but spiritually dead inside because they choose selfishness over service, prosperity over philanthropy, and politics over the people,” he said.

He connected that concern to broader weaknesses in the health system and social order, citing patients forced to sleep on hospital floors and communities still trying to recover from Hurricane Melissa, which struck Jamaica last October.

“To save our spiritual health we must subordinate our self-interest to a greater purpose, and that greater purpose is to give hope to the hopeless, be a voice for the voiceless, and work together to destroy the system that sees poor people sleeping on hospital floors while billions of dollars are misallocated or missing,” Dawes declared.

Though his remarks painted a bleak picture, Dawes said he remains convinced that Jamaicans still have the compassion and toughness needed to change the country’s direction.

He ended that segment by addressing patients and families facing hardship across Jamaica: “To the patients sleeping in the emergency rooms tonight, don’t fret too much, because better will come. To the family praying for an ICU space, hold the faith, because better soon come,” Dawes said.