A GUY'S VIEW: Double standards

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me?  And being only for myself, what am I? Hillel the Elder.

Religion and politics make a toxic mix, but I never confuse my concept of God with religion. There are many religions, all of them with principles or beliefs that conflict with other religions, but each of them is right in the eyes of their adherents.

Religion aside, I believe that the inclusion of God in anything improves it. This may be true, regardless of whatever understanding of God to which one subscribes. Although our National Anthem

and the preamble to our Constitution both speak of God, Barbados has never been a theocracy. May it never be, until the government of God is established on earth.

Events in Barbados and America have caused me to reflect more deeply on our world than I might do on an ordinary day. In times like these, one is more likely than not to draw on the wisdom of superior minds in search of answers.

I heard a Rabbi say that he had crises of faith throughout his life but never had he had a crisis of faith in God. Barbadians are entitled to have a crisis of faith in our leaders, and I am here not being political, but one hopes that this does not translate into a crisis of faith in God, whatever one perceives God to be.

Television has given the world a front row seat to the unmasking of America. As I write, it is unclear to the world what that country will look like in the near future. Of course, those who believe in biblical prophecy have been telling that story for a long time, but we will see.

But what of Barbados? One is unlikely to hear a preacher point to a portion of scripture and say that it identifies this country. We are too small and insignificant in the scheme of world affairs to receive that kind of attention.

But our size and global anonymity do not diminish the lives of individuals or the pain they experience from the vagaries of their lives. Neither do these things blind our eyes to how we are perceived by the rest of the world, even if we feign ignorance for the sake of a comfortable existence.

Although it was necessary to project it so, black people were not slaves because they did not have the capacity to learn or assimilate information. They were not enslaved because they could not dress well or wear strange looking glasses and talk foolishness. They were enslaved because they trusted what others said to them, did not have racial pride and did not have the power to resist people who were more warlike than they were. But that experience of bondage has left an indelible mark on the minds of black people for generations

Barbadians have expressed outrage at our Government’s policy of throwing their taxes and money borrowed in their name after visitors to our shores who brought and gave us the COVID-19 virus. This is seen as distasteful because they recognise that the same treatment is not meted out to deserving Barbadians.

We have listened to the political spot meetings in the form of COVID-19 briefings and still wait for a decent explanation for the refusal to restrict COVID-19 laden flights into our country. At the same time, Britain, the great spreader, has blocked flights from South America, Portugal and Cape Verde because of a variant of the virus found in Brazil and could likely place restrictions on flights coming from Barbados, after Brits caused the spike here that would cause them to restrict us.

We have made tourism our only significant economic earner and we have developed the mindset that this is the golden egg that must be preserved at all cost. Unfortunately, it seems that that cost includes selling our souls. There is absolutely nothing wrong with developing a strong tourism industry, but there is a lot wrong with indoctrinating our people with a sense of inferiority by treating them less well than we treat others. When our leaders place money above the lives of our people, we have a serious deficit that needs to be corrected.

It was reported on the news that our Prime Minister said that she, along with a few other well-placed persons, had received the COVID-19 virus vaccine. I thought that persons on the frontline whose lives were most at risk would be the ones who needed to be vaccinated most, but that is another story, for I suspect that many of them will not subject themselves to that jab.

But that aside, Barbadians would not wish harm to come to the Prime Minister and the idea that what she was given was what was intended for Africans, should make us all concerned. The explanation that trade laws require a separation of vaccines intended for Africa from those intended for Europe, Canada and America, is not convincing for most Barbadians, and a lot of Africans. We must not forget our history and our treatment at the hands of those who now seek to save us. I hope the Prime Minister remains well.