Grammar School Young Leaders are heroes

Dis year’s Nah-shun-all Heroes’ Day (NHD) parade and preparations in general was Low-key. One of our very committed female activists – not Luzette or Lie-Za – admitted dat de Garifuna Conference which was well organized, pushed de NHD celebrations on de back burner. I all time say dat when Hypocrisy see NHD coming up, it does scream out: “Noo! leave me alone.” Ah strong feeling is because our First National Hero was ah Carib/Garifuna warrior who defied de British enemy, he wore ah strange military uniform, de Emperor’s loin cloth . Now everything would ah bin different, had Joseph Chatoyer been ah British Subject like Cato, Joshua, Mc Intosh or Dr Eustace, den de NHD celebrations would ah bin like ah Carnival. By de way, when are we going to see ah statue of Chatoyer in every town and in the Grenadines?

Ah overs dat de attendance at last Tuesday’s Nah-shun-all Heroes’ Day parade at Dorsetshire Hill was not de usual, de number of MT chairs was significant enough to draw comments from de PM. No doubt he too is wondering what is happening to our ‘ennoblement’. But den again, as ah speaker MT chairs mean MT cheers.

If Nah-shun-all Hero is to be elevated to ah higher level of consciousness, den de church, de school and de village yards must play their roles; our artist (es) must deliver, write poems, sing, dance and plan sporting events; the electronic and print media must be encouraged to be ah part of promoting our NHD celebrations. At least we could try to dignify de concept of Nah-shun-all Hero.

DE YOUNG LEADERS

However, foh dis year, de St Vincent Grammar School Young Leaders are my Nah-shun-all Heroes. Dis is not plugging foh de lads to win de “RBTT 2017 Young Leaders Challenge.” Dey are by dem-selves winners. Ah small group of us Musicians have embarked on a visitation ministry to use our God given talent to ‘bring ah lickle cheer’ to our beloved Senior Citizens. De Thompson Home happens to be on our list. But last Sat-dey morning by de time we arrived, de Young Leaders from de Grammar School were ahead of us, dey beat us to de tape. When we enquired, dey too, had come to “bring ah lickle cheer” to de ole folks. De youths were in high spirits singing, mingling and even dancing, looking quite happy and comfortable to be sharing Love among folks, five and six times dey age. Ah remarkable moment, I don’t think de lads knew any of these Golden Agers and vice versa; neither do I think dat anyone of dem knows of de hundreds of years of committed and dedicated service these folks would have contributed to Family and Nation Building. Although dey were total strangers to each other, dey had one thing in common and dat was “Love was in de Air” on Sat-dey morning.

De occasion must have been ah one-dah-full experience foh de youngsters. Amazing how comfortably dey fitted into dis environment, looking as though dey were regulars, just paying Granny or Pappy dey usual visit. And what was even more amazing was how de ole ladies endeared de youngsters, hugging and gently stroking their backs like only ah Granny is capable of doing to her very own; ah suppose we could simply say dat was ah Granny’s “Love at first sight”.

Ah did not get around to asking de youngsters how dey felt about dis visitation. I hope dat Sat-dey morning’s spiritual blessing, was only de first of many more visits in de near future. After all, de School is about fifty yards from de Thompson Home, a good reason why de youngsters should visit more often. Dat visit was a part of their RBTT 2017 Young Leaders presentation. My sincere hope is dat de enthusiasm wid which dey delivered their Love message on Sat-dey morning, makes dem real winners foh Life.

And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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