Jamaica Votes

I find myself awake on what I believe to be the final morning of the People's National Party (PNP) rule in 18 years. I cannot say that I am overjoyed.

The truth is that while I tended towards Edward Seaga and a JLP government as a little girl because I loved their symbol of the bell, Michael Manley and the PNP seemed to have won my sympathies, if not my silent following.

Maybe it was the introduction of free education up to the tertiary level under his regime that offered my father a university education and me a chance for a better life due to the fact that my university educated father was more keen on what constituted good parenting practices and investing in my own education as a blueprint for a successful future.

Maybe it was legalisation and de-bastardization of children, like my father who were born out of wedlock to a respectable principal and one of his many unfortunate concubines, my dear grandmother who struggled with so many issues of insecurity that she fell for the wiles of the wandering educator.

Maybe it was the fact that I knew the man personally, and hold his memory in reverence to this day.

Regardless of how or why, I have to say change, though necessary, is not always for immediate gratification but since all things work ultimately for good, whatever happens in the polls by this time tomorrow morning when all the votes are tallied, we will be better off in the long run.