IN RECENT TIMES we have been hearing ’bout a good few people in Barbados who committed suicide.
I think the last number I hear was about six or something so, and it got a lot o’ people concerned.
It got people all about setting up duh face and asking one another what coulda happen suh bad tuh dem dat would cause dem tuh want tuh do such a horrible thing like dat.
Well, boy, ya gotta agree dat it is a real horrible thing; it is something dat does freak out families; it is something dat does make people question duhself or even blame duhselves.
It is also something dat does make people who might be otherwise rational thinking people start casting blame pon things dat happen or pon other people who they think might have caused it tuh happen.
I ain’t know but I have tuh tell ya how I feel. I see it as a very selfish thing fuh anybody tuh do, especially if they have a family dat gine get left behind tuh face the music.
It is worse than selfish if the body ain’t even leave nuh kinda note explaining why they did what they did.
At least dat would give ya some idea as tuh what the body was going through; but otherwise it just leave people wid all kinds o’ thoughts, very confuse, sometimes guilty feelings and wid a multitude o’ questions gine through duh minds.
It is like ya just left the person there talking good, good, good, and by the time you mek a turn round and come back, the body got a rope round duh neck and hanging from the rafters.
I ain’t know ’bout you but I gine tell ya, I would hate fuh something like dat tuh evah happen tuh anybody close tuh me.
I ain’t know, but it would got tuh be something dat causing people tuh decide dat duh had enough and want tuh give up wid-out the slightest ounce o’ concern or regard fuh anybody else.
But you know something? A number o’ things could be causing it, ya know, including drugs, alcohol, work or lack of, stress, finances, even relationships and for the way how things going nowadays, I think some people just cahn cope; so duh throwing duh hands in the air and giving up just so.
Looka the man in Tunisia who because o’ the same stresses like not being able tuh find work tuh support he self and he family, went into the square and light afire heself. Next thing ya know it triggered a whole wave o’ protest among oppressed poor people against the rich governments in Egypt, Yemen, Libya all up in North Africa and it got the Middle East walking pon egg shells all like now so.
But yuh know something? A lot o’ these suicides dat happening bout here got a lot tuh do wid the fact dat some people, like the man in Tunisia, cahn cope wid the pressure o’ not being able tuh get a job tuh support and feed he family; feeling a sense of hopelessness.
I read there in the Wednesday NATION newspaper the president o’ the Barbados Chamber of Commerce, Andy Armstrong, say when he was talking ’bout the debt-ridden Trimart supermarket chain that, “It is still better tuh have Trimart continue in business than tuh have dem go out o’ business, which is a possibility we would like tuh avoid”.
Compassion
Now you could imagine dat the business people who Trimart owe $15 million to, willing tuh accept 50 cents in evah dollar owed tuh dem as settlement in order tuh keep the business going? But the banks and the Credit Unions who dealing wid poor every day people ain’t seeing um the same way.
Look, dem doan intend tuh show the same kinda compassion and commonsense tuh the homeowners.
Duh want the principal, the interest and even the additional charges dat dem choose tuh add on. Duh want ya blood, ya sweat and ya tears and after dat duh want a pong o’ flesh too.
Fuh dem it is better tuh pelt out the body pon the road rather than working wid the homeowner who put duh all into this li’l property but might be going through a rough patch and all duh might need is a helping hand and a li’l compassion.
I ain’t saying dat this is the only reason people killing duh selves, ’cause suh far I ain’t hear ’bout nuhbody leffing nuh notes tuh explain why duh do it.
I know how hard it is nowadays tuh support ya family, pay utility bills, pay a mortgage, put food pon the table and keep a li’l vehicle pon the road. Nuh wonder some people would choose tuh take the escape route. But dat ain’t the answer – Jesus is!
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
