Dear Editor,

I am pleased to learn that Dr Stephen Vasciannie will deliver the 2009 Michael Manley Lecture on December 10.

As a Jamaican, I am delighted for two reasons. First, the occasion represents an opportunity for Dr Vasciannie’s intellectual prowess and superior reasoning to be demonstrated to others as a source of inspiration and hope for both young and old alike during this time of political instability, moral decay and social decline in Jamaica. Clearly, the opportunity to see a light of intelligence, intellect, academic discipline and personal interest in national advancement bodes well at a time when the island has sunk well below the murky depths of moral turpitude.

Second, Stephen Vasciannie’s life as a young man and scholar was shaped, in part, by the vision of Michael Manley. Although Dr Vasciannie has not personally embraced or demonstrated most of Manley’s methods of social change, he continues to maintain hope for the bright and prosperous future to which every Jamaican is entitled.

Congratulations, Dr Vasciannie.

Norris Nelsonnorrisnelson@live.com