WHEN YA THINK dat ya might be doing something good, duh got a lot o’ people who nuh matter how good the intention, can’t see it and does go outta duh way tuh make sure it doan happen.
Three things come tuh mind this week. The first one is the old wall hut pon the rock at Bathsheba dat has been there fuh years. People have come from near and far and take pictures of it and on it. Duh even had it featured in the soap opera, The Bold And The Beautiful some years back.
Well, recently an American artist name Naveen Shakil like she took it upon herself tuh paint a mural wid the words, LIVE A LIFE WORTH DREAMING OF pon one o’ the walls.
I ain’t know, but it like it ain’t went down too good wid some o’ the residents up there in St Joseph and people expressed all kinds o’ feelings ’bout this mural. Next thing ya know and before the cat could lick he ear twice, somebody come and power-wash the whole thing off.
Somebody said they saw when the mural was being painted and then again when it was getting power-wash off too. The article I read said dat people went there in three or four 4×4 vehicles and power-washed it off, clean as a whistle.
So in a case like this, it is back offa the people li’l piece o’ rock, lil piece o’ history. Dem would prefer tuh see a big ugly drawing pon it rather than a beautiful mural of peace, happiness and hope.
Another thing dat come tuh mind is the request dat the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Stephen Lashley put out there. He was in the papers and on pon the TV asking each Barbadian tuh contribute $10 tuh the redevelopment o’ the Nation Stadium.
He was making a case fuh the National Stadium and said dat in the first phase duh looking at $50 million. Well, I gine tell ya: he come in fuh some warm blows from people all ovah the place.
Somebody say dat they should take it outta dem tax refund, another body say dat it is a Government project and dat is wha’ dem does pay taxes for. Somebody else say dat dem hardly got money tuh look after duh families and cahn afford tuh take up the li’l they have tuh put it towards nuh Stadium.
Then I hear another set saying how the Government does let evahthing run tuh ruin before doing anything ’bout it. Then some people say flatly dat dem ain’t putting one blind cent tuh nutten so but a good few people say dat a ten dollar bill cahn hurt dem so they doan mind doing it but dat is the minority.
Another body say dat if dem calculations correct, when ya multiply two hundred and sixty-six thousand by ten-dollar bills, ya doan get 50 million.
Finally, the Highway 1 road project dat the Aron and Christina Truss Foundation was working towards like it ain’t gine happen no more, and dat is very sad. People decide tuh back off and back out. A lot o’ people, including me, was looking forward tuh seeing this thing happen.
Only the other night I had tuh go all the way tuh St Peter and my poor li’l puma was keeping bare noise all the way from Black Rock tuh Holetown. The thing is, I had two o’ my friends in the car wid me and was telling dem dat we gine soon get new road, only tuh look in the newspapers and read dat it ain’t gine happen nuh more.
Mr Truss say he was surprised by some o’ the attitudes he encountered while trying tuh get the $3.6 million needed tuh repair the road from the top o’ Spring Garden tuh Holetown in St James. Well, dat ain’t happen because, as he say, a lot o’ people see it as political and as dem supporting the Government and dem wasn’t fuh dat.
He went on tuh say dat the foundation had gotten some pledges totalling several hundred thousand dollars but there was no way of reaching the goal widout the support o’ the big businesses or the banking sector.
Some people, like the ones in the National Stadium situation, say dat it was something the Government was suppose tuh do and by supporting the cause, dem would be relieving the Government of its responsibility and giving dem some sort o’ victory dat duh shouldn’t have. Then some other business place say dat wid all the additional taxes dem was being hit wid, dem ain’t gine support the project.
So here we are, back tuh square one wid a old brek-down stadium and a long stretch o’ coast road dat not a boy ain’t prepared tuh put five cents in because duh feel dat dem would be doing the Government a big favour and dem ain’t doing it.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
