By Francine Black, Staff Reporter

As 2007 begins, we reflect and we also take time out to give thanks for things that have happened last year and learn from them and move on.

I would like to use this medium to thank God for a couple of things that happened in 2006 and hope we can all draw lessons from them for this year.

First, I would like to thank God for malaria. Obviously, if there wasn't an outbreak of the disease in Jamaica, we would not have paid attention to our immediate environment and our need to keep it clean. We also would not have become proactive and cleaned the drains (that we litter) without waiting on the authorities to come and do it for us.

Second, I want to thank God for the controversy surrounding the Cockpit Country. Finally, our environmentalists, are making their voices heard and getting Jamaicans to realise that destroying the environment will affect all of us. Also, you have made the government begin to realise that the environment is precious and we cannot sell out all of Jamaica at the expense of our natural resources.

Third, thank you for World Cup Cricket. Without it, many of us would continue to visit deteriorating hospitals where you are more likely to get more sick than well. We would not have got better roads, better sporting facilities and greater investments so that people could get jobs.

Jubilee death

Fourth, thank you for the woman whose baby died at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital. It was a sad and unfortunate death, but without it, the deplorable conditions at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital would not have finally come to light and some of the problems there would never have been fixed.

Fifth, thank you for Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller. Without her, we would not have known how disunited the People's National Party could be. We also would not have recognised that it is not 'Woman Time' now but instead, a time for a leader whether male or female, who is strong and focused, loves Jamaica and willingly to go the full hundred, is needed.

Finally, I would like to thank you for the controversy in the entertainment business. Without it we would not know how two-faced some of the artistes that are often viewed as role models can be. We also recognise how irresponsible they are for airing some of their dirty linen in public instead of dealing with it at home.

I hope 2007 will be an equally eye-opening year, filled with more positive events that teach us lessons instead of the negatives that we had to learn from last year.

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