WID ALL THE VIOLENCE, negativity, pain and suffering dat is going on and now seems like it is the norm in Barbados in recent times, my Lord, it is hard tuh think of, far less see any kind o’ good there still is ’bout here.
Ya going tuh sleep thinking ’bout what happened the day before and wishing and hoping dat it would somehow go away. Then from the time ya wake up, get ready and head out the door fuh work, thinking dat today is going tuh be better than the day before, there’s another set o’ foolishness pon the news.
I ain’t telling you nuh lie: it does make you feel like bong-ing back home, jumping back in ya bed, pulling the sheet ovah ya head, and trying tuh forget or shut out all the madness.
Listen, but try as ya might, it gets tuh ya, hear? It makes ya feel as though there is no hope. It makes ya feel like everything is going downhill and spiralling outta control. It makes ya feel dat bad has finally overcome good. It makes ya feel like there is no hope for ya children.
It makes ya feel like crying when ya think of what a once peaceful, happy, easy going no problem place is coming tuh. It makes ya feel like thinking hard about ya’self as ya get older, how it will be and what is going tuh become of you. It makes ya start tuh think ’bout ya children and grandchildren and their future.
One time I started tuh feel so overwhelmed by all the happenings and one Sunday after church I mentioned it tuh my pastor. I tell him how I feel like I was surrounded by this hopelessness. I told him when I look tuh my right, I could see darkness.
When I look tuh the left, just darkness. When I turn around and look back behind me, the same darkness there and ahead o’ me ain’t nuh different either. I told him dat I doan seem tuh be going nowhere or cahn seem tuh be able tuh see beyond anything nuh matter how hard I try and how much I desire tuh get out from under this thing dat like it ain’t want me tuh move. I told him dat even though I know dat God is still alive, still real and still in control, sometimes this hopelessness like it trying tuh swallow ya up.
He kept looking at me all the time dat I was standing up in front o’ him talking, then when I ain’t had nothing more tuh add tuh all dat negativity, he put one hand pon my shoulder and simply said, “Whenevah you get tuh this place, and it ain’t gine be the first time nor the last; just look up!” Wow! As simple as dat was, I understood and dat has stayed wid me from then.
Be it day or night, look up! Dem two works mean so much, hear? If you look up in the day ya gine see the bright blessed day wid the lovely fluffy white clouds and the bright blue sky. Ya gine see lovely big trees wid duh leaves and branches fluttering and blowing in the breeze.
Even if it is overcast or rainy, it is still amazing and beautiful. Now if you look up in the night, ya gine see in the midst of all the darkness, the stars or if it is time fuh the moon tuh be out, it will be there among the stars.
Louis Armstrong in two lines of his song, What A Wonderful World, call dem the bright, blessed day and the dark sacred night. Then he says, I think tuh myself, what a wonderful world.
There are those of us who have experienced, who understand, who know of and believe in God. We know of hope because we know of the things we have seen and the experiences we have been through. We know how true and real God is despite the naysayers
One time there was some kinda saying ’bout keeping hope alive and we have tuh do just dat by praying and keeping dat hope alive. We have tuh keep praying and hoping fuh better days and times because we know dat nothing is forever and this too shall pass. There is still hope for our people and this nation.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.