Jes’ fancy, in four days it gine be 47 years sence we decide to shake off ties wid de “Mother Country” an’ try paddlin’ we own canoe.
Time could really fly, doh. Lookin’ back, yuh got to ’gree Buhbayduss certainly en dah li’l onknown islan’ o’ de early sixties, when outsiders used to ax ef it did part o’ Jamaica. No sirree, dem days long gone. We in de “big league” now. We ’pon Unesco Worl’ Heritage Lis’, an’ ef dah en “big” enough, jes’ mention de name Rihanna – we own home girl – an’ evahbody know yuh!
But dah en all. Jes’ looka how de place change. We might be small, but dah was never a keepback. Now shut yuh eyes fuh a minute, to all de garbage an’ overgrown bush ’bout de place, an’ tek a look ’roun’ de islan’, an’ yuh gine see wuh I mean. Wide highways runnin’ from norf to souf – we even include a “overhead pass” (true, dah don’ get much traffic mos’ o’ de time, but dah en de p’int; it dey fuh all to gaze at an’ wonder); up-to-de-minute motor vehicles o’ all shapes an’ sizes, up an’ down de roads, day an’ night, causin’ nuff accidents; tall office buildin’s an’ new apartment blocks – dem cyhan quite rival de Miami or New York skylines – at leas’ not yet; a bariffle o’ fas’food j’ints – wevver or not dem good fuh we healf, duh sure mekkin’ life mo’ easy, ’specially ’pon a Sunduh.
Now, when it come to de new “splendiferous” residential areas call “gated communities” dat been springin’ up – wuhloss! Dem is someti’ng to see – modern, “away-from-it-all” homes displayin’ beautiful gardins – an’ security tight. We could boas’ o’ havin’ a worl’-class 5-star hotel, golf courses, impressive condos, holiduh villas . . . chile, you name it, we right up dey wid de bes’. Looka, we really “perkin’”, hear? Um en no wonder nuff o’ de rich an’ famous own holiduh homes down hey. Dis islan’ is a paradise – w-e-e-l-l, mebbee not fuh all, but at leas’ fuh dem!
As you know, we eddication standards was always “up dey”. An’ wid free secondary eddication an’, up to now, free tertiary as well, we producin’ well educated capable young Bajans hol’in’ duh own at home an’ abroad. You could jes’ imagine wuh gine happen when dah “wish” to produce a university graduate in evah househol’ come to pass. Philomena tell muh dah stretchin’ it, but I en min’in’ she.
We cyhan complain ’bout healf care a-tall. True, de new horsepittle still some way off, but we got good medical clinics to help we out.
We en gettin’ lef’ out in de technology race neithuh. Chile, we tek to dat “like ducks to water”. Walkin’ ’long de roads, waitin’ in line any place, drivin’ . . . wuhevah, BlackBerrys, iPhones, tablets an’ ethuhs I en even know ’bout, always at wuk – or play.
But flip dis shiny coin an’ check wuh happenin’. Moral an’ spiritual values slidin’ fas’. Indiscipline tekkin’ over, causin’ young an’ ole to do wuhevah an’ whenevah duh like – de problem dese days is bad attitudes. Domestic vi’lence ’gains’ women still de same way – or wors’ – in spite o’ all de “long talk” ’bout gettin’ laws ’pon statute books. Dah’s all it still is – talk! Drugs turnin’ de youff heads upside down an’ crime an’ vi’lence increasin’. T’ings bad enough, an’ now, to mek matters wors’, de economic an’ financial woes got Bajans mo’ nerviss dan a tabby cat.
Anyhow, God is de Lord, an’ we gine keep prayin’. T’ings mus’ improve by de time we reach de Big Five-O. Happy Independence!
Tek care o’ yuhself.
Yuh frien’, Babsie.