If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? – Shylock the Jew
Wuhloss! Bare confusion over two words: Sir Roy Trotman referred to someone as an “Egyptian Jew!”
Back again was KathyAnn Brewster who wrote recently: “Mr Hoad, you are an ass!” We’re now the best of friends. She hopes I’ll “stick around for a little longer”.
That’s how we all should live. Say what you think and move on. My wife often calls me an ass, except she puts more “soul” into it, if you get my drift.
KathyAnn would like to “comfort Sir Roy in her loving arms”. And asked me to comment on this “hot mess”. So did others.
Okay. To be honest, in the context of Barbados, I see nothing in Sir Roy’s comment to cause alarm. I was raised in a Barbados where we Whites were often taunted as “Edey White Mice” and “Eccy Beckies” on our way to school. If you had white hair, you were a “Grassy Owl”.
Inevitably, whenever a White person causes displeasure, the offended party puts his “White” genealogy up front and centre. Usually followed by a conveniently rhyming S-word derivative.
Yet, what is the reality? I walked the villages around Vaucluse alone from a tender age, and my mother never had the slightest fear for my safety. I played in bands at some of the roughest venues around Barbados, me, the only White person around, yet never had a single unpleasant experience.
Barbadians last rioted in 1937 at a time of abject poverty and low wages. And even then it is debateable whether they would have done so but for the stimulus of a Trinidadian activist. We are, and have always been, a cultured, civilized people.
So what of Sir Roy’s outburst? Bajans are past masters in the art of verbal jousting. And we always begin by giving our opponent his or her proper title. If this flies in the face of today’s “political correctness”, too bad. Political correctness is what has people all over the world killing each other because of bottled-up anger. Far better to vent one’s spleen and get it out.
Had Sir Roy called me an Egyptian Jew or some such, I in turn would have referred to him as a “short-me-crutch trade unionist” and we would remain friends. Sir Roy phoned me, by the way, last Friday (he was actually returning my call) and we discussed this and that. I suspect he was as surprised at the fuss his comment generated as I was when Penny Webster had “steam coming out of her ears” because I wrote that “no foreigner White people have the right to dictate to a sovereign country”.
So, Mr Jacob Hassid, fear not and may you and your family continue to enjoy life here.
Shakespeare painted Shylock as a hard, unforgiving type, bent on revenge and getting his pound of flesh. We Christians have no such luxury. We are forgiven our trespasses only on condition that we forgive our trespassers 70 times seven.
At a recent high-profile funeral, Pastor Elector Pearson told the mourners we can choose to let a tragic event make us either “bitter or better”. Revenge will get us nowhere. And Pastor Ian Trotman reminds us: “Some people cannot rejoice in the Lord because of unforgiveness.”
Which brings us to gnus. Two male gnus will fight like dogs over a female in the breeding season. Meanwhile, a third male may casually walk off with the lady and pleasure her abundantly. Leaving the exhausted suitors to exclaim: “Buh wait doh, we is two real gnu-gnus!”
Black and White Barbadians built this country through hard work and prudent management. Then, along came historians, twistorians, politicians and activists whose whole platform was based on revenge for past injustices.
They went further. Instead of facilitating Blacks to own and work the plantations, they encouraged them to dump centuries of agricultural expertise.
And while we Black and White gnu-gnus were busy bickering, the foreigners moved in smartly and took over our economy, banks, businesses, hotels, estates and utility companies. As our best lands go more into upscale housing, only God can help us.
Or maybe a few rich Jews.
• Richard Hoad is a farmer and social commentator. Email [email protected]
