Rebuke our children or else…

Is like ah weekly fixture on de front pages ah de Newspapers. When is not “Young man shot dead”, is “Man killed in drive by shooting” or “business man robbed and shot, youths arrested”, ah can go on and on. And den de painful comments coming from parents, especially dem mothers as dey pour out dey agony over ah slain young son, or even de accused slayers. As yuh read or listen to de mothers summarize de lives of these fallen youngsters, is de same sad story, dey all seem to be good kids, never rude, always kind and luvin to parents and siblings etc etc, and yuh ask yuh self who to blame foh de demise ah these young souls.{{more}}

Yes one set say blame de Church, ah nex set say de Society, Awe-position say de Guv-ah-mint and Vie-say Ver-saw, very few ah we say is we de parents, but de question remains, who to blame? Lie-Za say all ah de above.

Only last week Thus-dey, ah had me taste ah youth crime when ah borrowed de wife’s car to go to Villa beach. Someone broke de small glass in de rear door, stole my cell phone and pants wid some money in dey. Ah heard dat some youths were breaking vehicles dat week.

So ah lost ah cheap phone wid all my business contact numbers, got to replace ah phone and de door glass, only $400.00, no big deal, right!

A few months ago, ah gang ah youths armed wid guns, rained down on ah shop in de village and robbed de owner and all de guys who were playing cards in de shop. Not satisfied, dey came back ah month after foh seconds, dat time dey took away ah gun from de owner, he was probably waiting foh dem. Lie-Za, who just gets her information said dat ah young man was shot by, it is alleged, his buddies and de bullet matches de stolen gun. Quote Lie-Za not me!

Truman Quashie, de owner ah Chewee’s Night Club is ah young man himself who decide to mek an honest, above board living. While many ah his peers are asleep, Chewee is up all night providing entertainment, food, drinks and games, ah “Nice Lime”, I am told. Lo and behold, just before close up time, four youngsters, one age fifteen turned up ah Chewee’s Night Club armed wid guns, shot-guns at dat, kick down door, making draw-matic entrance! Dey were not from de Police, de SSU or Black Squad, so what did dey go dey fah?

Teking de life of another is ah terrible thing, but not when yuh have to mek de sad choice at gun point, is “yours or mine” in dis case was “ Chewee’s or de robbers”?

Ah wonder why de Police not in ah busy block like Villa beach on ah Fry-dey night, Mr Me-Law, yuh need to step up your patrolling. In de meantime may I ask ah simple question, what do de mothers ah our young, unemployed sons and daughters do, when de kids come home wid stolen items: guns, jewels, phones and cash? We would do we-self proud if we come down on these kids and even get dem to turn in these items.

Turning in de items is better dan turning up at de Court House to defend dey actions, (yes every body’s monkey is dey pet); or turning up at mortuary to identify dey dead bodies. We does stand and tek de fame when we child succeeds, we must tek de blame when dey fail!



WHEN DE ROLL IS

John Horne got ah nack foh breaking news whenever he calls. If is good news, yuh will feel it from de word go, de real John, verbal and verbose; on de flip side, yuh would feel genuine remorse coming from his vice.

So Wednesday morning when de phone rang at six o’clock and ah recognized John’s tone-ha-vice on the other end, ah knew he was just calling to confirm a serious concern we shared de night before, dat our class-mate, Rodway Fraser had bowled his last ball in de match.

Back in 1955, ah group ah troublesome youngsters stormed de corridors ah de Grammar School; some good ones like Fr Jones and Fr. Regisford and Me; some bad ones, we know who we are or were! Just to protect de records, ley we say Rodway was among de good ones; except dat one time he got into ah fight wid Karl Tucker.

He always had his face “skin-up” so we nicknamed him “Skinner”, not “Skinney” his younger brother. Skinner was an intimidating fast bowler who was equally as intimidating and fast in wuking out ah Math problem, he was ah 10 out ah 10 Math student and his Maths later served him well on de job at Kay-Blue & Why-Less and Church Treasurer.

Grammar School was de prestige school back dem, Lie-Za say it still is, and her son must go dey; ah don’t know when dat.

We were all excited when we were placed into Houses; Carl Glasgow, Rodway, Ray England, Ray Dougan and I were placed in School now Crick House and from year one, we represented our House in Cricket and Football.

It was only after ah finished school dat ah realize what an important piece ah bonding material dat House placing served.

Sports was ah big ting in our days and yuh were ah “sissy or girlie” if yuh were not into sports.

Every Grammar School boy’s ambition was to get selected to represent de school at de Windward Island School Boys Tournament (Olympics), Athletics, Cricket and Football. It was like de ultimate sorry ah never reached dat level ah de games, but dem fellars, including Rodway would have represented BGS in both cricket and football at de national level ah competition. He and Carl Glasgow, another talented sportsman went on to represent St. Vincent and de Grenadines in cricket at de Senior level ah de game. But “Skinner” as ah fast bowler had deceptive pace foh ah small athlete, de Malcolm Marshall type, devastating off de wicket. His bowling action was also suspect or deceptive as well.

On leaving school, we failed to socialize as we did as students, however we held onto, and cherished de friendship as we were among de few from de Class of 1955, who did not migrate.

Rodway lived ah balanced life, he served in de Accounts Dept at Kay-Blue & Why-Less faithfully and well up until he retired; he served SVG faithfully and well as player and administrator at Cricket; very importantly, he served his family, Pearl and de kids faithfully and well; and best of all, he served his God checking de Tithes and Offerings at de Anglican Church.

Heaven is ah place wid ah lot ah chores, from Gate-keeper, to serving de Milk and Honey, to Records-keeper, dat’s way Rodway gone.

Lie-Za say one ah de biggest surprise Rodway will get, is when he check de Register in Heaven and ain’t see many ah “shore” names entered, however, she wants Rodway to put down Lie-Za because: “When de roll is call up yonder, she wants to be dey”!

May de Lord have mercy pon dat Lie-Za and may de Angels receive Rodway wid open arms.

And ah gone again

One Love Bassy