Alred C. Frett. Photo: VINO/File

We appear to be in a perpetual state of sadness and mourning as too many Deaths overstretch Funeral Homes and render Churches unable to find enough days of convenience for burials... I simply say it as I see it and even as the year winds down, the World continues to change so rapidly that sights and signs expected in our Children’s lifetime are now happening in ours.

Many can hardly wait to leave the curse of this year for hopes of a New… However, our lot is no accident - we have been programmed to be self-defeating and this cycle will be repeated as long as we refuse to listen and learn or read and reason… This conditioning to make ourselves perpetual victims of Ignorance lock us into being seen & not heard as we follow like sheep to the slaughter.

The more we become entrenched in colonial indoctrinations; the more we will automatically reject not only the independent opinions & advice of our Brothers and Sisters but our own inner thoughts… We would lose self-respect and would rather die than listen - in the process we make ourselves redundant; wasting lives on pipe dreams and regrets rather than real plans and projections.

Mandela’s passing provided us with lessons of possibilities and irregularities: - No one in History asked for so little, suffered so much and was elevated to such greatness… Even in Death he was a unifier with his wives hugging, Family Harmony and President Obama shaking President Castro’s hand - evidently recalling Nelson’s displeasure with him for killing his friend, Qaddafi.

At the same time an unusual situation occurred at the Memorial causing the Sign Language Interpreter to be ridiculed internationally – While it was claimed that he was signing Gibberish, he claimed to be actually seeing Angels coming down from Heaven and into the Building… In doubting him we may also question Religious Nuts who claim to see the same imaginary Friends.

The confusion continues as popular Radio and TV Hosts argue adamantly that Black Persons should be barred from ‘playing’ Santa Claus and Jesus because these are actually white and White Persons should not ‘play’ Martin and Mandela because they were black… Of course what is totally lost in the shuffle is that Martin and Mandela are real whereas Jesus are Santa are fictitious.

None of this should be new since for Decades I have been trying to get our People to differentiate between Real and Imaginary… Maybe it’s not too late for the World is finally beginning to openly acknowledge ways and means by which the Self-righteous use their Power, Position and Influence to Steal from andVictimize others… Finally Corruption has been officially recognized!

December 9, 2013 was marked as International Anti-Corruption Day primarily aimed at Malfunction of Governments and their Agencies on the Public... As you recall, when I started cautioning our People about Slavery and Corruption several claimed that I was over using these Words… Today, you may have noticed these have become a part of your vocabulary, locally and internationally.

In fact on October 13, 2003 the UN recognized Corruption as being done for Ill-gotten Money, Material Gain and Various Benefits so they formally voiced concerns “about serious problems and threats posed to the stability and security of societies, undermining institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice and jeopardizing sustainable development and rule of law".

We must recognize the difference between too much and too little… In supporting ‘Truth for the Youth and the way Forward even Pope Francis, Man of the Year, spoke out against Political Greed and Trickle Down Economics... However, those leaders who didn’t curse him pretend to support Minimum Wage increases once these are accompanied by increases of their Salaries.

While Politicians and Senior Civil Servants may see it as their Duty to fool and rule, they and every Economist also know the problem of Income Disparity is directly linked to Public Sector Capitalistic Greed and that Minimum Wage hikes without associated Maximum Wage controls fuel greater Disparity so that the real earning power of Low Level Workers is further decreased.

No matter how blind, deaf or dumb we may choose to be, Corruption is not sterile – It comes with adverse consequences and the greater the Corruption the heavier the consequences… As the Hammer drops in the Region even Barbados (viewed as least corrupt & most progressive) finds it necessary to lay off 3,000 Civil Servants and cut wages for Politicians and Political Appointees.

This is the dilemma I have spoken of for decades as we watch the Powerful convince themselves that we, the little People upon whose shoulders they stand deserve nothing more than their trickle downs and leftovers - We still see them cloak themselves in shrouds of Greed and Corruption while failing to reason that, with our limited Resources, if they get all then all others will get nothing.

Too many lives are reduced to endless journeys of chasing shadows of the Powerful and Corrupt while they see too much as still not enough and a motto of ‘Money talks and Bull Dung Walks’...

Greed blinds them to the realization that one Man cannot consume 1000 Loaves of Bread within a single year anymore than 1000 Men can survive for the same Year on a single Loaf of Bread.

Again and again the cancer of Greed replaces Basic Need as they preach the unnatural Doctrine of two tiers of Employment Compensation within a common Society with one level as much as 400 times less than the other… Such practices appear fueled by Corruption and Illegal Drug Activity such that Lawyers feel justified in charging ridiculous Sums of Money for the same Services.

The Social Tragedy is that this form of extortion spreads and trickles down the line to Poor and Innocent Persons who are unable to meet these massive Costs for unguaranteed Products and Services… Furthermore, in Societies, rife with Public Prosecutors but lacking Public Defenders, Prisons are overcrowded as Systems become spawning grounds for Bias, Injustice and Corruption.

None of this will change by itself and the more we ignore or accept it the stronger it becomes and the weaker we become… Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela faced such hopeless obstacles – They are all dead now and we are alive but it was they who paved the way for our survival - We are no Gandhi, King or Mandela but we still have a responsibility to the Youth.

PS:… I will continue addressing some of your Questions & Comments on Live BVP Radio Programmes