A GUY'S VIEW: What time is it?

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

– Ecclesiastes 3: 1 to 8.

A wise man once advised, “In all your getting, get wisdom.” Not since the imposition of slavery has there been a season of undemocratic ruthlessness as this region is witnessing now. As a people, do we have the wisdom to see where we are or are we still asleep and imbibing whatever Kool-Aid is served to us? One guesses that it depends on whom you ask.

The entire Caribbean was shaped in sin and oppression. A few centuries ago, the overt oppressors were Europeans. That lasted up to about 60 years ago. Around that time a cadre of men emerged who thought that the time had come for some element of self-determination in these parts. That mindset coincided with the willingness of the colonial powers to part with the responsibility of managing these plantation economies, although they never gave up control. Today, the children of slaves whom we have chosen to serve us have assumed onto themselves authority that was never given to them and they seem determined to sit as lords over persons with a similar history to theirs.

Do not be fooled: there is no black man or woman in leadership positions in the Caribbean who is not the descendant of slaves, regardless of what pedigree they now try to claim for themselves. The sound produced by the beating of their chests is hollow.

The region is full of the history of those who resisted the European masters. Their children must now resist the black servants who are attempting to usurp the will of those who, clearly in error, elected them to serve. Any servant who attempts to rule his or her master’s house must be removed from service. That time has come.

People who felt oppressed and coerced came together on the streets of Antigua last Sunday to freely let their state of mind be known to their servants, and those servants ordered other oppressed Antiguans to choke them with tear gas and scatter them. And those who gave those orders remain safe, protected by the sons, brothers and sisters of the scattered. What time is it?

About 7,000 persons who felt oppressed and coerced came together on the streets of Bridgetown two Saturdays ago to let their oppressors know that they had not signed up to be Guinea pigs and would not tolerate being coerced into being part of any experiment. And their brothers and sisters were ordered to scatter them. What time is it?

Most persons are raised to respect and trust authority. Whenever I found myself in any position of authority, I was never more offended than when someone did not trust me or questioned my motives. I have since come to understand that it really does not matter what you know of yourself. People see the general behaviour of authority figures and have low expectations of them. They wait to see if you are different.

Being critical of wrong decisions is not automatically translated into disrespect for those who acted in error, at least from one perspective. Now, however, there is a load of disrespect because there is evidence that there are many malefactors who are deliberately misleading the public and potentially causing harm to innocent people. When will it be time to do something about them? Unfortunately, many people do not expect politicians to tell the truth about anything, but better is expected of other public servants.

There is an assumption being made that may be problematic. The practice of repeating a lie regularly until it is believed may work to fool some of the people, however, the discerning may not only escape those traps but may be intolerant of attempts to deceive them. If there is a miscalculation, the consequences may be devastating.

Of all the arguments for and against whether it is wise to participate in the vaccine experiment, the most persuasive: the free choice of the subjects to participate or not to participate.

It is really an unfortunate reach to compare vaccines that were tested for years and for which the manufacturers were legally culpable for any harm done by those vaccines, with an experiment the outcome of which no one knows, and for which those making the experimental concoction have been excused from all legal liability. All are free to take the risk, and all should be free not to.

The people of Linden, Guyana may be our guide. The Government there has gone along the path in which ours seems headed and has made life difficult for those who choose not to be vaccinated. The people shut down Linden. Vaccinated or unvaccinated apparently did not matter. What time is it?