Moving de dark cloud

For morning devotions ah find some very inspiring short stories in the lickle book of Daily Readings, “De Good Seed.”  De reading for last Saturday was entitled “Tracks in de Snow.” Ah wish foh dis week, to share with readers dis Teaser”

“A farmer in Canada had to cross ah wide open field under deep snow to get home one evening. De sky was clouded over and any trace of the way had disappeared. Suddenly he realized dat “he was going de wrong way,” he was lost and started to get scared. Soon, however he saw de fresh tracks of another horse and cart. Regaining hope, he drove his horse on and soon caught up with de cart in front.  But de traveler ahead of him was in de same predicament, he too was lost, looking back de Traveler called out and asked de Farmer: “ Way yuh heading too?”—“Actually, I’m just following yuh” de Farmer replied. “Following me? De traveler said, “I don’t have a clue way we are, so yuh better ‘tek in front’ and lead de way,”

“De place was dark like mid-night, dey couldn’t see anything beyond five feet ahead ah dem. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, ah violent wind, blew de dark clouds away and like ah ‘God-sent’ ‘dey was light’! It was ah sigh of relief, de two travelers, looked up to de heavens and caught full sight ah de ‘North Star or Pole Star’ known by Navigators, Astronomers, Surveyors as Polaris, the star from which one can obtain one’s geographic position, find ah  bearing or direction. No more Dark Clouds, from there on dey were able to find dey way home.”

Would I be wrong to say that right now, ah Dark Cloud looms heavily over our blessed land, and like de two travelers in de short story above, our two Horse Driven Carts  are in ah frozen path, trapped in de open field covered wid snow.  De country is at ah Stand Still and ah Stand Off? December 9 is gone, de fete-in, de party-in, even de share-in ah free galvanize and lumber is over and we should be back to wuk, but foh dem Dark Clouds. Ah might add dat setting fires to buildings is not de Light we looking foh!

In de story de traveler who was in front, was first to add-myth dat he was lost, and invited de Farmer to come forward and lead de way. Immediately after, de Winds came and removed de Dark Clouds. So our Cart-men in SVG got to get dey act together, one or both got to yield!! In de meantime Lie-Za is advocating dat we de Masses must be dat Strong Wind dat will Move de Dark Clouds! She wants me to start from de top, de Church. Look what de Church come to! De Christian Council is now outdone by de Pentecostal and SDA where Leaders actually riding shotgun (giving support) on these Horse Driven Carts. Instead ah being on de look-out foh de real Polaris thru fasting and praying foh de Wind to blow away Dark Clouds, dey prefer ah Cart-ride even at de demise ah de congregation and by extension Christianity.

Next in line is de post Elect-shuns impasse. One side perceives dat de December 9th Elect-shuns were not Fair and Free. Reports are dat de results are being challenged thru our Justice System, therefore ah speedy hearing of these Court Cases will help to Move de Dark Clouds.  In de interim people must be allowed to exercise dey De-mock-rat-ache Rights peacefully and freely, fully recognizing de Rights of others in de process. Justice and De-mock-we-see are like blood relations

I am hearing scary talk about de privacy ah my vote.  My school-mate, Selwyn Jones ah former Supervisor of Elections, now ah SDA Pastor, assured me dat de ballot paper has only de names and de symbols of de candidates, it has no other matching identification mark, dat dey’s no way anyone can determine who ah person voted for by looking at de counter-foil and ah ballot paper. But den he said dat’s how it was in his time. Scary eh!

Media houses both print and electron-ache could help propel de Wind dat could Move de Dark Clouds. It does not help de Wind when Newspapers and Radio Stations are branded as hitch-hikers on de Horse driven Carts. Damn if yuh do, damn if yuh don’t, but de Truth will stand de test if time, so whether yuh are Journalist, Reporter, Columnist, Talk-Show Host, Commentator or even Cartoonist, Fair, Balanced and Full coverage should be given to all sides when reporting.

Ah have not even touched on Corrupt-shun dat alone is ah whole Article. So ah must return to my story of de Farmer and de Traveler, and de message it holds foh us all.  De story concludes by charging us of acting very often like de two men on de carts, we follow others and simply copy dey act-shuns. And de final call question is:  “must we be hit by ah storm to notice dat we need to look up and see de way to Heaven, de real Star, on our life’s journey?” So foh 2016, let us do our bit to stir-up de wind dat will Move de Dark Clouds and save SVG. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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