Thursday, March 28, 2024

Dreaming on Mother’s Day …..

May 9, 2010 by  
Filed under Featured Posts, Love

Words of wisdom from my friend Garth Delapenha.  Serious thoughts and dreams on this Mother’s Day.  For non-Jamaicans, you may not recognise some of the people or the places, but you get the sentiment …. Let’s all dream today, and hold the dream alive for all the babies of the world!  That’s what mothers are ….. dreamkeepers!  Happy Mother’s Day!
“Would, that I could like the wraiths of Dickens engaged Scrooge, have such a discourse with Dudus, with Bruce, at Gully and Gaza. Fly through Tivoli and Jungle touch base with Mavado and Beenyman. That I could talk with the souls of such men and women, that I could visit the boardrooms of industry, the fields of cane, ganja and bananas, the mines of red earth, the shops of the villages and the malls of the cities, the schools, the dancehalls the churches. That I could have a voice that could pierce through the crackle of gunfire, lull the beat of the bass speakers, render the posturing in Gordon House mum.

I would like to be able to cause meetings of our people with their ancestors, have them be able to talk with Nanny, and Bogle with Marcus and Bob. I’d organize a grand seminar and take people from speaker to speaker, to say “see her over there, that’s Harriet Tubman, there is Mahatma Gandhi. Over there is Norman Manley and that is his son Michael. Come with me guys let us go and hear Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Martin King, come let us listen to Judy Mowatt’. We would hear from Anne Frank, and Ellie Wiesel I would have them talk to the Palestinian people of Gaza, have them swap tunnel stories with the folks from Tivoli, to the folks from Rwanda and Sierra Leon, so they could compare losses of limbs and families.

I would be able to fly everyone to the top of the Blue Mountains, to the waters of the Rio Cobre and Grand, to whisk them around Mystic Mountain and feed them at Sandals we would let the children play in the Cockpit Country of Trelawny hopscotch to Portland’s Blue Hole rest at Treasure Beach in St. Elizabeth do Dunn’s River and Ys . We would indulge at Faith’s Pen and Boston and reconvene in Mandeville or at New Castle or Strawberry Hill or Hellshire, for an evening of discussion. We would chat with Usain Bolt and Newton Marshall. There I would introduce guest with whom each could have private time. I’d say “here is Siddartha Gautama , in that room is Christ and over there is Mohamed.” I would allow them to vent with folks like Claudius Massop and Aston Marshall and Jim Brown. I would listen to their stories, acknowledge their triumphs lament at their grief.

I would invite them for a last stop. We would head to the Jubilee Hospital. There we would meet the most powerful of human forces, the newest born Jamaican babies and say to all. “Folks, you now choose your path, I recommend that you take your cues from these little ones, all they want is love and that’s all that you need.”

Would, that I could… but maybe, we can.”

Comments

3 Responses to “Dreaming on Mother’s Day …..”
  1. Wow! What a tremendous piece! When Sharpeville occurred 50 years ago, the end of the apartheid system seemed all but impossible. Today we have the proof of all that is possible if we have the vision. So I am willing to fly with Garth.

  2. Christine Lee says:

    Wow! My thoughts went back to the good old days… Long gone but never forgotten… I was truly blessed by this post, it had me recapturing the past and thinking of the present, as we dread the future… If only we could – I think President Obama saw the vision, when he said, “Yes we can!” Can we really?

  3. Burnett Coburn says:

    Hey Sis, thank you for sharing this piece with us. I followed its upwards trajectory as it ranged from the slums and villages to the privileged enclaves and mountains of Jamaica.
    Taking us around the world to interact with the Jews of a past and current era, to the banks upon which Palestinian children suffer. We are made to sit at the feet of Desmond Tutu as we follow Harriet Tubman knowing fully well, that even if she falls asleep she will awake to lead us safely to the promised land. The promised land beckons in the birth of a New Generation coming forth from the Victoria Jubilee Hospital Hospital. Continue to inspire and educate us, as you keep us free and laughing.

    l smile when l think that a mind expanded can never return to its former size. One Love.