Her frustratio her voice, her hands tell a tale of anxiety. In them is a handwritten letter detailing a bad experience. She reads it with conviction, stopping to elaborate on every point. She is a victim of a society that shows little restraint or even common decency, there has been affront to her rights and her basic civil liberties. She wants something to change.

I recognised her emotion, we all feel it when we see people boring in traffic, someone boasting about how they cheated the system at the expense of others, and the man who bumped into you, pushed past and never once said sorry.

Civilised behaviour is something from a past generation. Yet, as I listened to this lady, I realised that while she seemed angry at her experience, her biggest problem was an understanding that her letter, her justifiable anger, and her frustration would come to naught.

Recently, I seem to have been bombarded with cases of people being verbally or even physically abused over something quite insignificant. They air their frustration, lick their wounds and basically do nothing. In most instances, I suggest they call the police or take legal action, and in each instance the complainant backs down, all they want is for things to change.

Man and woman matters

A woman is injured by a man and her male friend tells me she can't report him; it is her "babyfather". When I express little appreciation for that excuse, he informs me very confidently that the police will do nothing about these personal matters between man and woman; he cites an example for emphasis. Others fear confronting their aggressors in the event they may retaliate using the ultimate violence. If only things could change.

Maybe I'm down because it is still raining buckets. I am going to need an all-terrain vehicle to get around this city; there is a rat visiting my kitchen (he clearly does not like the rain either); bread has gone up, and the garbage was not collected for two weeks; and the dogs from a nearby house ravaged the bag that was not enclosed; and I spent my Saturday morning collecting a long trail of garbage. Things just don't seem to be running very smoothly at the moment, and I just want things to change.

So while as a nation we are all hoping for a change, our leaders are passionately engaged in a debate about termites. The news of our Prime Minister threatening to disband the Public Service Commission is as unsettling as the Leader of the Opposition's fixation with class divisions and her self-portrayal as the leader of the "people" willing to go to jail. It is politics as usual in the House of Parliament. Not exactly the seat of change we were hoping for.

People have lost faith

At the moment I feel that the people of Jamaica are apathetic, they simply have lost faith in the possibility of change for the better. There are so few precedents for citizens to cite where the good guy prevailed; the victim was compensated, and protected. We don't believe things are going to change. In fact, the generation soon to come of age with all that they have experienced, their morals and beliefs or lack thereof, is one to fear. If justice prevails just once, surely everyone fears what can of worms will be opened.

Yet, if our country is to survive, things have to change!