For as long as I should live ’pon the face o’ this earth, there are some things I remember and will nevah evah fuhget my mother saying tuh me and my other siblings, especially my brothers, when we were growing up dat “it serves ya right”.
I ain’t gine stand here and tell you dat when I hear she say so, it used tuh be just something in passing, by the way or something slight; oh no!
It used tuh be something dat she might’ve warned you about , dat she know could’ve caused you a lot o’ pain or embarrassment; and if ya didn’t hear, something dat you woulda had tuh grin and bare by ya’self.
I can’t remember her saying “I told you so” much, if at all, but “It serves ya right” was the one dat would cut like a knife because o’ the way she said it; then, the look and attitude dat came wid it, told you straight dat you were on your own.
Ya see, my mother was very expressive, she had a way of saying everything wid a’ attitude. When she tell you dat it serves ya right, she would have just sat down or stan’ up, looked you straight in the eye and asked you what happen because o’ the way you were getting on or it might just be from what she hear one o’ the other children tell her.
Now when you done empty out your soul-case tuh her, knowing dat this was something she talked tuh you ’bout time and time again but, because she is your mother she thinking dat she gine help you lick the wounds and curse the body dat cause you suh much hurt. . . . I could see her now.
The woman would just shake she head from side tuh side, bend down she mout’ at the corners, make a few li’l’ noises dat sound like uuummm, and wid one o’ dem kinda whisper-shout noises, she would snarl in ya face and tell ya, “It serves ya right”, cut she eye at ya real nasty and then get up and guh long ’bout she business, leaving you there tuh lick ya wounds.
Now I say all o’ dat tuh say dat it serves all o’ we in Barbados right fuh allowing Trinidad and Tobago tuh treat we as the way duh like. Wha’evah duh do tuh we, we give dem permission tuh do it. Evahbody know dat fuh as long as ya could remember, Trinidad used tuh get on like dem had it made, dem was large and in charge, dem didn’t had tuh answer tuh a soul, especially we li’l’ islands who used tuh be relying ’pon dem fuh one thing or the other.
Doan talk ’bout when duh had the li’l’ pitch lake at all, whenevah duh open duh mout’s it used tuh be dem oil. Then one time duh used tuh come here and shop and all ya used tuh hear is dat it is dem dollars dat propping we up economy.
The biggy was when we build the new Grantley Adams International Airport. You woulda believe dat evah cent we build dat airport wid, did come from Trinidad and Tobago. Wha’, from the way dem was talking, if dem coulda take up dat airport and carry it ’long tuh Trinidad, it woulda gone ’long a’ready, hear wha’ I tell you.
In dem days I used tuh go tuh Trinidad quite a bit and dem airport wasn’t saying a pang but yet still dem coulda take up millions o’ dollars and gi’i we tuh build a multi-million dollar airport. Sstuupppes!
Look, evahbody know it ain’t only now dat Trinidad pulling punches. I could remember when I was a li’l’ girl growing up, my father was a Barbados Labour Party stalwart; he was a Grantley man. He used tuh be out there day and night at election time, ’pon the campaign trail wid all kinds o’ papers in he hand, canvassing.
One o’ the things dat will always stand out in my mind is when Sir Grantley Adams was the Premier of Barbados and when duh was talking ’bout the Federation, when Trinidad and Jamaica refused tuh sign. That is when the Mighty Sparrow sang the song wid these words:
If they say they doan want federation/ If they say they doan want tuh unite as one and only one/ Tell the doctor ya not in favour/ Doan behave like a b…..d/ How the hell ya mean ya ain’t federated no more. . . .
The kinda attitudes dem Trinidadians got really stink, hear wha’ I tell ya. Look at wha’ dem does do tuh the poor Bajan fishermen when duh catch dem barely off course. The way duh does get on wid dem, you would nevah believe dat these men are hard-working men, their own Caribbean neighbours who only out there trying tuh make a dollar fuh duh families.
Up tuh now, governments come and go and still Trinidad and Tobago cahn come tuh nuh kinda fishing agreement wid Barbados ’bout sharing the flying fish dat we does use and dem couldn’t care one frupse ’bout.
I cahn fuhget the REDject issue but evah dog does got he day, hear?
All ’bout here wash way wid all kinds o’ Trinidadian products and businesses dat dem like duh does shut down when duh like or ain’t wukking tuh suit dem; Yet dem gi’ing the producers ’bout here all kinds o’ stress tuh get their products in there.
It is time dat we Bajans stop supporting all these lot o’ outside markets dat doan support us and try and start tuh support we own; we could do it! The old people always say dat home drum does beat first. Wunna doan see how hard big America does be pushing the made-in-America campaign?
That is why I say, like my mother, it serves we right, we always think dat somebody thing is better than we own; but it is about time dat we Bajans start tuh love weselves and support we own. We could save a whole lot here when we start tuh support we own.
That is why from now on I reading evah label carefully. Certain places I am not supporting.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
