I had a good Christmas

Dec 28, 2008 Features / Columnists, My Column

For the first time in years I had a Christmas without squibs and having to rush reporters to hospital to report on children and even adults who got seriously hurt by the exploding devices.

I had been led to believe that all the talk about controlling squibs (and some are really bombs) would have been an impossible task because the police, I thought, were all about talk and no action. I have been proven wrong so I had a peaceful Christmas. I did not have to worry about driving with my windows wound up for fear of some boy throwing these squibs at me.

But I was alarmed at the number of people who failed to see Christmas Day. It was for them a case of so near yet so far. There was this vendor who was trying to catch his hand on Joseph Pollydore Street when a speeding minibus went out of control and hit him; there was my cousin who was riding his merry way home on his bicycle when a vehicle hit him from behind; there was this group driving in the vicinity of Celina’s when they managed, somehow, to topple the vehicle, killing one of their own.

There were some nice things, though. Friends and family came home for the first time in years bringing with them nothing that I needed, but bringing them nevertheless. Me apart, some of them brought things for the less fortunate.

One family packed suitcases with clothes for a needy family and I can only talk second hand at the shock on the face of the recipient who happened to be ill at the time.

I also noticed the various organizations that did more than try to put smiles on the faces of so many less fortunate children. Glenn Lall was more than magnificent when he took on the task of providing gifts to more than 2,000 children who had written to Santa Claus either on their own behalf or for some friend whom they believed needed his intervention.

As fate would have it many of those gifts are still undelivered, probably because the parents failed to read the notices.

However, the exercise provided some laughter. There was this girl who wanted a top of the line cellular phone and she even sent a photograph with a note that read, “just in case, this is what it looks like.”

Another wanted a laptop and yet another wanted some newfangled gadget. But for the greater part, the children got their wish. They must still be smiling and remaining more than steadfast in their belief of Santa Claus, who, as I said last week, is not necessarily a man with a big belly and coming from the North Pole on a flying sleigh.

I was lonely, though. For the first time in my life I got up on Christmas morning alone in my home. Many years ago migration began first with my wife and youngest son to be followed by my daughter who postponed leaving, for years, because she was worried about who would care for me.

It was not so bad though because I got a chance to catch up on some reading, something that I am beseeching young people to do. Failure to read leads to failure to comprehend and this is why at press conferences, they sit around so dumb, not even able to affix background to the information they receive.
The other day, President Bharrat Jagdeo talked about the Skeldon Modernisation plant.

None of them knew the cost although this plant has been three years in the making. None sought to find out the reason for the continued delay because they simply failed to grasp the importance of background information. There was no effort to do research because that calls for reading.

Anyhow, I am looking to the New Year. I had too many friends telling me that they wanted the leap year to rush to an end, that they saw too many disasters. For me, it was a case of taking my time because every time the year rushes by so too does my life.

I will try to slow down at the risk of getting bored; I will go back to my exercise routine because I happened to notice that I am growing in a most unwanted direction. I am growing forward. My belly is bulging.

I understand that with a bulging waistline comes hypertension which can cause a stroke and the last thing I want to do is to become a vegetable. I still want to dance and run and do all the things that healthy people do.

New Year’s wish? That will have to wait a bit. For now though, I am enjoying the little things like the alcohol, the food and of course the rest, because for a few days I got real rest.

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I had a good Christmas

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