Thank you for your visits

Godwin and Solomon

Nothing makes me happier than to share the Round Table with guests. Actually, it is our purpose at RT to make room for visitors to come and share ‘ST,’ Serious Talk together, whether to agree, provoke, criticize or present something new, something different. So when Dr the Honourable Godwin Friday visited four weeks ago, it made us put out a little more flavour in the menu, and then Mr Solomon Daniel came and paid a visit to the RT. We thank you both.

When Round Table presented “Pornography in Broad Daylight,” looking into our stubborn wrongness in approaching foreign investors, it made many people nod their heads and say “Round Table, you so right.” Mr Friday got excited by some of what Round Table presented in “Pornography……” and he shared it with his colleagues in Parliament quoting it during the budget debate and commented on it.

What brought Solomon Daniel to Round Table was “The Launch. A missed moment.” He too got excited. While one other visitor to “The Launch….” commented “you will be surprised to know how many people agree with what RT offers,” the wise Solomon Daniel took offense. Round Table was glad to receive what he had to say in his “ST:” Is Oscar Allen serious? “The Launch” really seemed to touch something sensitive in Solomon.

In the piece “The Launch: A moment missed” Round Table looked at the AIA launch celebrations on 13th and 14th February as something like a call to worship at the new Argyle shrine – the airport. It also pointed to a missed opportunity to confess – fess up to – the hurt and misconduct that took place during the project and so make a new start in national unity and reconciliation.

DANIEL’S ARTICLE

To tell the truth, I think Solomon Daniel agrees with Round Table’s “The Launch…” What makes me think so? Well, for one thing, Mr Daniel does not quote even one statement from the Round Table article. He fraid to touch the actual “launch” from Round Table – unlike Mr Friday’s verbatim references to “Pornography!” He knows it is true.

So what is Daniel’s article about? It is about Mr Allen and his love for the NDP and his hate for the ULP. Here is his chorus.

“For Mr Allen, the NDP can do no wrong, despite the numerous evidence of backwardness displayed by this bunch of reactionaries and right wingers. He is in bed with these backward elements in our society, even though he portrays himself as progressive, a leftist and holier than everyone else.”

I believe that some people will take Mr Daniel’s words about Mr Allen as gospel. I have heard them before, even in face-to-face conversation. They are a mixture of information and opinion and I look for them in myself and find that maybe 10 per cent can be valid. 90 per cent is scurrilous and untrue. Thanks Mr Daniel for the 10 per cent.

VISIT ROUND TABLE

You are welcome to visit and sit at the Round Table again, Mr Daniel, and many of your friends. The same to you, Mr Friday and your companions – There is room for all at the table. Some of what agitates us at the Round Table is what our executive committee – Cabinet – is doing in our country. Other matters that we highlight are what other forces, including our fellow citizens and institutions and forces outside SVG impose on us. Nobody is exempt from the searching eyes and sharp scalpel of Round Table. Those who seek and get instant applause for their efforts and their daily chores will receive their due and no more. Others like Camille Musser, Wendell Davis and more receive our often unspoken commendation. An interesting, perhaps irrelevant note comes to me. The Jerusalem temple where Jesus worshipped taught and “cleansed” was a magnificent “capital’ project started by Herod (The Great). It took 80 years to complete. Jesus worshipped there, but did not worship it or its builder.