Monday Blues

It seems that Mondays are becoming my worst days. Maybe it's because I'm so damned tired after the ups and downs of the weekends. Well I can safely say 2 down and 3 to go after Saturday. We handed in the major project for one course and had the mid semester test for another. It made for a rather interesting morning. No rest for the wicked they say. Well Friday night was a no sleep night for me. My group left my house at about 10:30 and I continued to tidy up the project until about 1:00a.m. Saturday morning. Since we were having the test on Saturday morning as well guess who was up reading till it was time to leave for school. Trust mi...tired is not the way you want to do a test. I can't remember half of what I wrote and in all honesty, it may have been better if I had just gone to sleep because it was in through the eyes and out through some other orfice. Anyway the results will tell. We were not able to make our presentation as the tutor had to leave on an emergency. The rest of the day kinda just went. Yesterday I got up after having gotten much needed rest and went to church. The pastor was not his usual bubbly self and it showed in his sermon. He spoke about his call to the ministry and the fact that we as humans have an inherent habit of destruction. He recounts that when he announced his calling to service how the parishioners were elated at the idea. He said that these same parishioners would eventually turn around and lick him with some big stones. He said we must strive to temper our actions and try to ensure that we stay far from the gossip and malicious destruction of others by what we say and do. He spoke about the violence plaguing Jamaica and pleaded with us not to sit back and watch as it would eventually erode the very fabric of the island. He said that blocking out a community and declaring that it doesn't happen in our neck of the woods is not the answer. he told a story about a friend of his ( a person of means who said she was going home to her "ghetto". He asked her why she called it that and she told him that yes it was a gated community but in the same way we close our gates to keep other out it wsa the same way that the inner city behaved. The difference wsa that one was a gate the other used stones. The fact is that the majority of persons in garrison communities are there as victims of circumstances and were inherently good. The handful of criminals are the ones giving communities a hard time. Personally I think we have the power to change our nation. These criminals all have friends and family but until the mother and wives and girlfriends stop washing the blood soaked shirts and pants and say that it must stop we will continue to have issues. These guys are not operating in isolation. Yes there is the factor of fear but I think for the most part it goes beyond that. At what point does that cute baby that you bore stop being your cute baby. How many people does he/she have to kill before we understand that our nation becomes worse and worse as the retaliation and mayhem spreads further from our door steps. Thesecriminals are known to others and I dare to say that they are known to others who do not share their belief that human life is sold for the price of a tin of sausages. Reality is that that is exactly what some of these guys get to carry out their evil. Last week an eighteen year old girl was killed for a lousy cell phone. something that will be out of style in maybe 6 months if you are lucky. It needs to stop. I struggle regularly with my christian beliefs and my personal conviction that the scourge of vioence needs to be wiped out with immediate effect by whatever means possible. It sounds strange that one must be violent to eliminate violence but honestly I can't see ant other way. Lawlessness has taken over. It starts at home and until the mothers and fathers take responsibility for their children's upbringing there is no better to get. In my childhood, you strayed from the acceptable path and you got your ass whipped. Today our psychologist will tell you how damaging it is to the child's self esteem to be punished by belt. I treat them with the same disdain that I treat doctors who advocate these extreme diets and then a few years later tell you how damaging having too much of the same thing they advocated a few years before is. I'm getting into some real hot waters here so let me stop before I get myself into serious trouble. Later guys.