As one cherishes with approving eyes our young ladies sinuating during Crop Over or in the current CPL T20 cricket series, those magical words of Shakespeare (or was it Robert Burns?) come to mind:
“How like a Riley’s ham-cutter is woman! Perfection in every department: the Bajan salt bread spread asunder to partially conceal the ham, correctly proportioned of skin, fat and lean, with perhaps a spriggle of hair, topped with a snozzle of pepper sauce to provide the spunk and challenge men love.”
We in the Caribbean are especially well favoured in this department, our women having a 360 degree pelvic rotatory joint denied to their European counterparts. Woman was God’s final masterpiece of creation and He outdid himself in her delicate curves and delicious scents.
It therefore boggles the mind as to why the unhappy-looking Maxi Baldeo pictured in this week’s Sunday Sun should object to the NCF thanking God for His blessings at Crop Over events. If some people show disrespect, that is to their discredit. I have witnessed a sno-cone vendor blaring amplified music in competition with our National Anthem at an Independence Day parade. Should we ditch that too?
Our National Anthem, by the way, states very clearly whom we believe to be the people’s guide and whom we want to lead us “inspired, exulting, free”. We need apologize to no one for taking a moment to thank Him.
That same Lord, however, lays a very heavy condition on us, to wit, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them who trespass against us”. And not only does He forbid us to avenge ourselves, He instructs that we should “feed your enemy and give him a drink”.
Okay, let’s leave the religion out of it and look at this avenging thing. I personally cannot hold a grudge against anyone no matter how they might have wronged me. I take no credit for this. It’s just how I am. To “cast my burden down by the riverside” comes naturally.
Mind you, it isn’t always easy. How does one forgive, for instance, the Trini fellow who looked on course to marry my wife and then backed out leaving me to slide right into it?
Or Father Theodore Taylor, God rest his soul, who conducted the ritual which landed me into never-ending lustful penal profligacy?
Nevertheless, I forgive them and they’re welcome to stop by for a cutter and mauby at their earliest convenience. (Actually, don’t make it too soon. Our water’s been off for the last week and we all smell rather high and the toilet even higher.)
Anyhow, a few weeks ago Doug Hoyte was discussing Black history with a reverend. And he said: “Look at the Jews; they never let you forget the Holocaust!” So let’s look at this “never forgetting” thing.
Abraham lived way back in BC not far down from Noah. He took a little piece with a slave girl and Ishmael hit the road. Subsequently, he and the wife begatted Isaac.
Would you believe that in 2013 Jews, who came from one line, and Arabs and Muslims, who came from the other, are still at each other’s throats over that?
In contrast, my father too loved a little nook. Soon the factory people were telling me: “Boy, you got a sister in Porey Spring!” Yes, there was some initial resistance but the mother turned out to be a nice lady and the sister sweet as ever, wonderful additions to the family.
Again, Shia and Sunni Moslems kill each other over the choice of successor to the Prophet in 632 A.D.!
Ignoring the teachings of Christ, Christian Catholics and Protestants have historically treated each other with unbelievable cruelty.
Even today Irish Catholics and Protestants are still in conflict, a situation complicated by the history of English Protestants being settled on former Catholic lands and many Irish being “Barbadoed”.
Throughout history, bad things happen.
The Holocaust was one such. In the opinion of many, however, the Jews have exhausted the sympathy it gave them and should look to move on.
Slavery was a much more horrible experience. As I watch multiracial teams and crowds enjoying cricket and Crop Over together, I just pray we can all cast our burdens down by the riverside and study war, and revenge, no more.
• Richard Hoad is a farmer and social commentator. Email porkhoad@gmail.com
