WELL, HERE WE are standing on the doorstep of 2016, not about tuh enter but to leave and start all ovah in a brand new year. I ain’t know ’bout ya’all but I would tell you, it was a very rough year in more ways than one and I know dat I ain’t the only body who feel so.
I was talking tuh a girlfriend o’ mine yesterday and we was comparing notes ’bout how very stressful life has become in the last few years and one o’ the things dat stan’ out in my mind during the whole conversation was when she say dat she ain’t even want tuh hear the number 2016 as long as she live.
She say dat all she experience in 2016 was bare headache and stress. She say dat fuh as long as she was alive and working fuh sheself she cahn remember evah having tuh wuk suh hard and still wonder ’bout how she gine be able tuh get the few cents tuh stretch.
Now, she got a good job and does hold a senior position in Government, so you would know dat she doan work fuh nuh chicken feed like a lot o’ other people.
The other thing is dat she got her own home and one single grown son but yet she tell me dat she had tuh grin and bear it in the last year.
And look, duh got a lot o’ people, just like her, who does be watching the different taxes yamming away at duh pay cheques evah single month.
I had tuh tell my friend dat she should still be grateful she still got she li’l pick because this time last year a lot o’ civil servants was pon needles and pins not knowing where they stan’ wid duh jobs and before the first couple o’ months could be out good, a host o’ dem was getting termination letters in duh hands.
Well, today is the last day o’ the year and hard or soft, we still here. We have weathered the many tropical depressions, storms and what eventually turned out tuh be hurricanes dat pass we and went on tuh mash up other places. We have arrived at the end of another year, looking forward and anticipating, good health, good jobs, less taxes and bills.
Despite all dat we have gone through in the past year, we still here; Barbados is still here. Oh yes, we got many more potholes than we did a couple weeks ago but we still here. Doan mind the police have tuh work longer hours and sometimes harder tuh get the guns off the streets – we still here.
Doan mind when ya go in the supermarket ya now walking wid a baby trolley or a basket instead the big trolleys dat ya accustomed tuh – ya still here. Doan mind ya scrambling tuh make ends meet evah single day wid the mouts tuh feed – we still here.
I am happy tuh be alive and I am praying that God will continue tuh smile on Barbados. I, like a lot o’ people am looking forward tuh a fresh start, a new beginning and hoping dat things will turn around in this coming year.
Happy New Year, Barbados!
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
