WELL, BOY, here we go again. Duh want tuh slaughter poor Jeff Broomes again and hang he out tuh dry in public. But duh could do and say wha’ duh like ’cause the Jeff Broomes I have come tuh know after all o’ these years from the time I first took my li’l nephew tuh The Alexandra School some years ago ain’t gine let none o’ dem haters stop he from doing what he has tuh do.
Fuh sure, the man ain’t perfect. In fact, none o’ we ain’t perfect but we does do what we think is right and best wid our imperfect selves, in all situations and under all circumstances and conditions.
Neither the teachers nor the head teachers in Barbados have it easy but this is the profession they have chosen and even though duh got a lot o’ people out there who could be unreasonable and very ungrateful most o’ the time, they have tuh keep on keeping on fuh the sake of our children who, despite how some parents may feel, gine grow up tuh be the adults and run this country in one way or the other when all hands o’ we get old and cahn do a thing ’bout nutten.
I have a lot o’ respect fuh principals or head teachers, wha’evah you choose tuh call dem, like Jeff Broomes and Mathew Farley from Garrison Secondary, now Graydon Sealy, because despite how people may feel and get on, dem does stand up fuh what duh believe in and get on wid the job.
Look, I get my tail cut at high school too and it ain’t kill me. As a matter of fact, both times I thought it was unfair because neither one o’ dem times I wasn’t doing anything tuh deserve dem three lashes cross my backside wid nuh bamboo.
I went tuh the now non-existent Federal High School dat was right there on Collymore Rock where dat big bakery is now and fuh years I hated Mr Gall and Mr “Happy” Bryan fuh hitting me.
Mr Gall call me out and hit me because we was supposed tuh be quiet because we was having a test. When he pass and saw me trying tuh get somebody attention tuh shut a window dat I couldn’t reach as the rain was falling and I was getting wet.
Now nuh matter how I try tuh explain dat tuh him, he wasn’t interested. I was in third form at the time and being a child who wasn’t rude nor bad behave, it hurt and embarrassed me and all I duh feel like doing is snatching the piece o’ bamboo outta he hand and dropping the same three lashes back in he tail tuh let he see how it feel. But I grin and bear it, went back tuh my seat, seething in anger, bite back the tears, sat down and continued my test.
The next time I get three lashes cross my backside wid a bamboo was when “Happy” Bryan, the brother of Dacosta Edwards, who was the principal at the time, come tuh teach we in biology.
Looking back at it now, he like he didn’t know one flipping thing ’bout the subject neither ’cause the man turn up in the form room wid he usual angry-looking self, take up a textbook and start asking questions from it.
I ain’t know if it was fear or wha’ but not one student ain’t get the answer right and the man like he was happy tuh cut evahbody tail. You could imagine dat? In a form of about 25 students, he give each one o’ we three lashes.
It like it give him pleasure tuh do it too. Look fuh years I was praying tuh butt up pon, if not both o’ dem, one o’ dem tuh blister-blind dem or wash duh off in cuss but when I ask, I hear dat both o’ dem ovah the years get sick and frail and dead, and I nevah get the chance tuh tell dem how I feel nor pitch a slap ’cross one o’ duh head. So, I did the next best thing – I forgive dem and move on. Dem dead and gone ’long and I still here.
Dat is why I cahn understand some people, parents especially. If your child ain’t getting unfaired and is being disciplined, doan get all worked up ovah it; as a matter o’ fact, if wunna would do it at home first and teach dem how tuh respect authority, duh wouldn’t have tuh get sent home nor nothing so and the life and work of both the teachers and especially the principal would be a breeze.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.