As the United States of America will be observing 250 years of existence, we too should think back to 250 years ago, the first maroon war was fought 250 years ago. When the British tried to take over the entire island and to subdue everyone, the Maroons ran to the Hills and they fought off the British. They could not defeat them. When you check history, 1728 right through to around 1739, the war dragged on and eventually they had to form an agreement because they could not defeat the maroons. That agreement was arrived at somewhere about 1740. When you look back also 250 years ago, we will also discover that the island was enslaved and the sugar trade was at its peak but there was unrest. There were rumbles of discontent locally and also plans by other forces including the Spanish and others contemplating whether or not they should invade the island of Jamaica. As it was in the beginning, as it was over 200 years ago, we are about to enter a similar period in the history of this nation of Jamaica where not only will there be rumbling of unrest among the people because of harsh economic realities, corruption in politics, injustice and all other matters including what is called geo-politics, but we also will have to grapple with disasters like we have never seen before. Remember it was in 1692 on June 7, that this island of Jamaica was rattled by one of the worst earthquakes ever in the history of this nation. You saw what happened to Port royal, you saw what happened to Kingston and other parts of the island including in the Bull Bay Area and also in Saint Ann and other areas even in Spanish Town; vast portions were hit. Let us understand that a cycle is about to start, where there is strife and disaster and hardships like we’ve never seen before and if we are not careful, we could find ourselves in serious problems as a people and nation. We are on the verge of being hit by a massive disaster. As the United States of America observes 250 years of existence, we too need to reflect on the last 250 years and pray that there will not be a repeat of something that took place.
