We need tuh open our eyes and see dat if we doan do something ’bout our children now, we gine wake up one morning and realize dat we have raised an entire generation o’ crooks and thieves.
We need tuh open we eyes and see dat if we doan mind, the words that will come tuh mind when ya think o’ this generation will be covetousness, greed, anger, bullying, envy, stealing, callousness and the negative list goes on and on.
I said all o’ dat tuh get tuh a very bad incident dat happened a couple weeks ago tuh a first form student, a li’l 11-year-old boy, one o’ my own li’l nephews who just gone into a secondary school in the north.
Now, evahbody know dat the secondary schools does offer some extra-curricular activities, and this li’l boy loves sports, so from the time he started school, he went and got into cadets, cricket, football and he could sing very, very good, so he joined the choir too.
Now, I am told dat when the children are doing any o’ these activities, the bags are placed in a room which is supposed tuh be closed and out o’ bounds tuh other students.
Now, after barely five weeks in this school, one Friday the li’l boy was playing a game o’ football. Would you believe dat one o’ the big boys went into dat room, take up the li’l boy bag, skin out he books ’pon the ground and carry ’way the boy bag?
Now this thing happened on the Friday, and he come home empty-handed ’cause the teacher in charge told him dat they will look after it.
Well, the child went tuh school on Monday and when he come home again wid-out his bag and books, the mother ask him what he write on and he said dat he got paper from the other boys tuh write ’pon and she asked him how come, and if the teacher accept dat.
Well, when I hear dat, I almost hit the roof but the next day the mother went tuh see the principal, who at first didn’t seem tuh know what the woman was talking ’bout. But after a while, with the mother pushing and insisting, the principal turn around and show the mother the boy books in her office.
The mother told the principal dat there was a student who actually saw the boy who skin out the li’l boy books, and after getting behind the principal a couple o’ times, she finally got the student and took the information from her, but up tuh this day not one thing has been done ’bout it and the child is still wid-out he brand new bag dat his father bought in Canada fuh $40.
It was a Northface bag, one o’ the bags I hear duh selling ’bout here fuh a poun’ and a crown.
It was only after this incident dat I hear how these Northface bags selling ’bout here fuh over $300 and dem is the latest craze wid schoolchildren; but the child’s father ain’t know one thing ’bout nuh north, south, east or west face nutten, so, while he was in Canada, all he did was buy a neat li’l bag which he thought would suit his son.
But tuh cut a very long, painful story short, the father went tuh the school once and the mother went three times.
She get suh fed up dat one morning she turned off and went in tuh the Holetown Police Station and was told dat she should go tuh the Ministry if the principal ain’t do nutten ’bout it.
Up tuh now nuhbody ain’t do one thing ’bout the fourth former who tief my nephew bag, even though the student tell dem who it is.
But ya know something dat does get me? I ain’t know how a parent could see dem child come home wid something, anything, a bag dat dem know dem ain’t buy and doan enquire where duh get it from or even make dem return it.
In the same way, I ain’t know how the principal could have been told who the culprit was and still ain’t do nutten ’bout it.
Now, what is this saying tuh this li’l boy who just gone in tuh this school wid high expectations? Dat this is the norm?
What is it saying tuh the thief?
Dat the big and strong should prey pon the small, weak and vulnerable and nuhbody cahn do nutten ’bout it?
And what is dat principal saying tuh all the rest o’ students who gine get unfaired? Dat dem frighten fuh the bullies and bad-johns?
And finally, what are the parents o’ these li’l thieves telling dem?
Dat when and if dem see something dat duh like and want, dem should take it up and bring um home?
So you understand wha’ I mean when I say dat we raising a generation o’ crooks, thieves and bad-johns?
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
