Someday at Christmas

As we put together our final edition of SEARCHLIGHT before Christmas and pondered the gloomy headlines of the day, the lyrics of the Motown classic “Someday at Christmas”, made popular by Stevie Wonder, seemed to be on replay in our minds.

That was probably so because last weekend, the evergreen New Kingstown Chorale, in a glorious and uplifting show, presented to the public: “A Christmas Celebration”.Among the several beautiful renditions of the 60-year-old choir was the classic “Someday at Christmas” written by Motown songwriters Ron Miller and Bryan Wells for Wonder’s Christmas album in 1967. {{more}} We were so impressed by the Chorale’s rendition of this and other songs by the Chorale that we published some of them on our Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/Searchlight1) to share some measure of Christmas joy.

Will there ever come a Christmas when there are no wars; when dreams come true; peace and justice reign; there are no hungry, lonely motherless children; no crime and violence; no pain and illness; no fear and inequality?

The songwriters say “Someday”.

Unlikely and unrealistic though it may be, we can still hope that it happens, even if not in our lifetime.

Two of our lead stories tell the tales of two local families in which eight children lost one or both parents through violence in less than 24 hours. We also report on a fatal police shooting in the Pole Yard community at Arnos Vale, a farmer losing his livestock to wild dogs and the very sad situation at the shipyard at Ottley Hall where the workers there, like those at the Buccament Bay Resort, seem unlikely to receive their full entitlements in time for Christmas.

These are not the types of stories we would have liked to report on in this Season of goodwill, but we have to. We exist to document and disseminate the happenings of Vincentian life, no matter how unpleasant, out of the conviction that facilitating public disclosure and public civil discourse contributes to the development of a better St Vincent and the Grenadines.

On behalf of the Chair and Board of Directors of Interactive Media Ltd., publishers of SEARCHLIGHT; and the management and staff of SEARCHLIGHT, we wish everyone a peaceful, happy holiday season.