Beg God to come back

In last week’s papers, it was painful watching dat EHS student, on ah Hospital bed, para-lies? ah hope not, wid his mother, looking distraught at his bedside. He was stabbed by possibly two other BCK students, in what could very well have been ah ‘gang ting’. What is frightening is dat de crime and violence situation in and off de school compounds is terrible, and all we hearing from de experts at de Ministry of Education and by extent-shun de Go-venom-men’t is dat we have ah “So-see-yoh Eco-nah-mek problem.”{{more}} What de hell dat mean ah don’t know! What ah know is dey offering no real solution to de problem.

One ah de problems in our schools today is dat as ah Christian Society, deys no space on de school’s correct-yoh-law foh God. It’s all about Pass Common Entrance, Pass CXC, Pass CAPE, is ah Ed-yuh-Key-shun Rev-all-yuh-shun and guess what? We Buy-Pass de real subject, Religious Education dat inculcates and instills Love, Peace, Forgiveness, conflict resolution and so on.

Ah can’t help going back to de good ole days ah school, when every village had ah lickle Primary School, Murrays Village had three: “ Mr Charles’s aka Boots no Foot School;” den we had “ Miss Clarke aka Anchor Chain school” and Mr Lee who unfortunately had lost one of his hands so his was “ Haffa-hand Lee School!” Ah not being disrespectful, but long ago everybody, adult or child had ah Nick-name.

Now before yuh could go town-school like “Cat-lick, Met-dis and Anglican,” was at dem lickle wayside schools way we all learn de 3R’s: Reading, Riting and Rick-me-tick: “A foh apple, B foh bat.” Or rattle off yuh “two ones are two, two into two one,” Small and insignificant as dem schools were, respect foh God was first and foremost. We sang and said Prayers first thing every morning; before going home foh lunch another Prayer to bless de meal dat yuh ain’t sure bout; after lunch, ah Prayer to give thanks foh de meal dat yuh didn’t get sometimes, and at three o-clock yuh said ah closing Prayer. And when yuh transferred to de big schools in town, was de same practice of giving Reverence to de Almighty.

Even when ah went to Grammar School in 1955, almost 60 years ago, every morning we had Assembly, there ah did Religious Education as ah subject. Now-ah-days all ah dat cut out, de children getting dey Devotions pon de Vans wid all de dutty music. Congratulations to de Police Commess-shun-her Charles and Inspect-her John foh clamping down pon de noise pon vehicles, dah’s de volume, wha bout de songs? Some schools have Assembly once ah week. Dah’s not nuff. God bless St Mary’s Cat-lick school, dah’s way my last two kids went to meet Sister Ivy, Miss Johnny, Miss Winsdor, Missah Farrell and others. Prayers four times ah day. Ah remember ah Prayer dat dem kids uses to say at night: “ Angel of God my guardian dear, ever this day, be at my side…” after de done and dey say “Amen,” was like ah spirit ah Peace uses to sweep thru de house.

De present system has failed our young people. So we must go back to basics, beginning in de Schools. Daily Devotions, Praise and Worship, Bible Study, occasional Fasting wid Prayers are de only weapons dat can counter and defeat de NME dat has taken control of our young people. Instead ah talking ’bout passing ah Bill to pay medical expenses foh members ah Par-liar-mint, why not pass ah Bill to reintroduce Christian Education in schools i.e. Devotions, Prayers wid Fasting and Bible Studies?

DIS IS ALL FOOLS MONTH

Dis got to be April Fool’s month when Prime Minister Gone-Soft trying to fool us about paying medical bills foh members ah Par-liar-men’t? All of ah sudden he so generous to de Awe-position, dey refused to assist Daniel Cummings wid ah special chair prescribed foh him, after he got his back injured in Par-lament? Cummings den got ah chair, courtesy his constituents and he had ah hell of ah fight wid de Speaker to get it placed in de House.

How could de PM offer to pay Pah-lament-tear-ran medicals while poor people still suffering from ah shortage of prescribed medication at de Hospital. Someone was on Radio saying he went to donate blood to ah relative, and dey was no container to store de blood. People hey wid kidney problems still die-in because dey cannot afford de Die-I’ll-assist treatment. Member Dr Slater, former ULP minister ah Hell’t said dat, Guv-ah-mint cannot afford to maintain ah Die-I’ll-assist machine. Yet dey are two private clinics hey wid Die-I’ll-assist machines. Dey’s no Nurse on de island of Mayereau, de clinic closed foh repairs over 16 months now. Oh lard, what ah Go-venom-men’t, what ah country!! .

Dat Lie-Za could read right thru Gone-soft. She say dis medical assistance will start wid members ah de House, den it will extend to dey immediate family, spouse and children; and den to Papa’s selected party supporters. Shouldn’t de PM be talking about introducing ah Hell’t Care Plan foh de nation, just like Obama-care, call it Guns-soft-care. Lie-Za asking if de PM setting de stage foh when his people get sic, or if dey sic already?! And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.