DUH GOT A LOT O’ PEOPLE, especially the young ones who would tell you dat dah statement, what so evah a man sow, dat shall he also reap, doan apply tuh dem.
Some would tell you dat it is bare foolishness or they might not even listen tuh you at all, if and when you try tuh even explain it tuh dem.
The truth is, duh ain’t want tuh hear because duh ain’t want tuh stop doing the things duh doing. Dem young now and would tell you dat it is their life.
Dem believe dat duh got the world in the palm o’ duh hands and could do as duh like, now! It ain’t ’bout nuh future as far as they are concern, evahthing is now fuh dem.
Ya see, a lot o’ people doan believe dat duh gine get old and they gine watch their own children copy dem and do the same things dat they did.
On the other hand, somebody gine come along and do tuh their very own children what they did tuh other people children.
I doan think dat there could be anything more hurtful tuh a parent than tuh see their nice, well adjusted, level-headed, intelligent children, who they did all in their power tuh shelter and shield from the harsh world, go and get involved wid somebody just like dem in duh young days and get hurt and abused in the same way dat dem hurt and abuse other people children.
But ya know something? Dat is just the way it is; dat is just how it does happen and leh muh tell ya something, the worst things like it does happen tuh the nicest child and dat is the part dat does really break ya heart.
In my years on this earth, I have seen things like this happen. I have even heard a parent crying and asking why she child, dat this particular child doan get in tuh nothing and why something so should happen tuh dem.
That is just the way it is. If something bad were tuh happen tuh a hard-mout’, disgusting or wayward child, I suppose ya might hear a parent saying dat duh real hard-ears or didn’t listen nor keep away from certain company, that is why something like this could happen tuh dem, not the one who is the total opposite.
But dat is one side, it ain’t fuh dem tuh make the calls nor call the shots.
It was fuh dem tuh do the right things when duh had the opportunity but they abused it and did as duh pleased then wid-out any kinda regard fuh anybody’s feelings and as I said earlier, fuhget dat old age was a part o’ the deal.
Duh got a lot o’ people nowadays who living and paying fuh duh parents’ sins. It might sound harsh, but I telling you as it is. I know a good few o’ dem I does deal wid dem.
Sometimes one or two o’ dem does manage tuh get out from under the dark cloud and do something wid duh lives but I gine tell you, it ain’t easy carrying dem burdens dat they inherited.
I read a story like this in the I Confess column the other day and had tuh say dat people doan realise what they do today, good or bad, gine follow dem tomorrow and it ain’t gine only affect dem but the people who coming after dem.
If we take the time tuh look ’round today, we would see a good few situations like dat.
But it ain’t only in man and woman relationships ya know?
It is in the tiefing, the lie-ing, business and every other kinda relationship. Whatevah it is, ya gotta pay fuh it, be it you or ya children.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
