To me the last day of the year always has greater meaning than Christmas, Easter, or any other holiday of the year. That’s when all kinds of thoughts – good and not-so-good – engulf my mind. Thoughts that cannot be ignored, try as I may. I am not in the least interested in going out on this last night of the year, night that will never ever return.
In my early youth, I felt I just had to go out as all my family members and acquaintances have done throughout the years and enjoy what the world has to offer
This year has been the worst ever with hundreds of thousands of deaths all over the globe due to COVID-19. Living on a tiny island in the sunny Caribbean does not shelter us from the troubles of far-off countries. It doesn’t take very long for what happens there to take place here.
Is it my imagination that more people die during the month of December than any other month of the year? It seems that there are always a larger number of death announcements in this newspaper during December. My own Dad died on December 15.
Some of the scary questions that will bombard my mind this year-end and ought to be on your mind as well: What will the New Year bring? Will we all live to see another New Year’s Eve or will someone very close to us depart unexpectedly? We all know that in almost all cases, death comes as a thief in the night. In this month alone I have witnessed the death of no less than three close acquaintances, one of whom was a former co-worker. It’s a horrible thing when all that’s left of a family member or a close friend is a couple of pounds of dust in a silver urn. And it’s also horrible when you can’t personally attend their funeral, but have to follow it on your phone.
This deadly pandemic will likely not come to an end soon but will continue to take lives in the New Year. Will our economy revive and go back to normal so that people can get their jobs, in effect, their livelihood back, or will they have to continue depending on our government or the Netherlands to put food on their table? Will life return to being normal, or will this “new normal” linger for a long time and even become permanent?
Another year has gone by and for all of us this means we are a whole year closer to what lies ahead, whether good or bad. Nearly 150,000 people world-wide die every day of the year; 104 every second of every day that goes by. This is data from 2017, thus the number is certainly much higher now due the pandemic, increase in the number of murders, calamities, suicides, etc. Imagine 150,000-plus souls departing on a daily basis, and according to God’s Word, only a small number of them enter the Kingdom of God. Quite a sombre and scary thought.
Lots and lots of souls depart for hell every day, and yet not many parents talk to their loved ones about the way they ought to live their lives. Too many of us wait until it’s too late to talk with our loved ones about the inevitable and we don’t know when the inevitable is going to take place. We keep putting it off. Worse yet, we depend on their schoolteacher or the priest or someone else to talk with our children about these vital matters. Big mistake! Little do we realize that their eternal salvation greatly depends on how their parents bring them up. Aren’t we all accountable to God for the way we train our children?
In Luke, chapter 14, there is a parable about a poor beggar who sat daily at the gate of a rich man, hoping to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. It’s clear that the poor man suffered from hunger every day of his miserable life. He died and went to be with the Lord. The rich man eventually died, was buried and went to a place of torment. From where he was at, he could see and even talk to Abraham in whose presence the poor man was. People say that Jesus mostly spoke in parables, and this is true. But who is to say that His parables are not based on the truth? Would Jesus waste His time telling fairy tales?
Try to imagine for a moment yourself in heaven and being able to temporarily see and maybe even talk to one of your children in hell? He might ask you, Mom/Dad, why didn’t you ever talk to me and warn me about this awesome place? Will I have to spend eternity down here?
I once had a beloved first cousin who unexpectedly passed away tragically. I flew down to the hospital in Puerto Rico, where she had been shipped in an attempt to save her life, to speak to her about the Lord, but she had fallen into a coma and according to the doctor could not hear a word I said to her. Don’t put off speaking to your loved ones about the Lord.
Another question that should come to our mind is: Have I progressed at all, spiritually or otherwise, since last year, or have I wasted another year of my life? Let’s resolve to thoroughly examine ourselves this year. Jesus admonishes us: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19. All the material riches we accumulate in this life will be of absolutely no value on the day we exhale for the last time.
Wishing all a safe, corona-free and most of all, true spiritual growth in 2021 and beyond.
Clive Hodge
Dear Editor,
Christmas for us is a time when we are to celebrate good tiding and as a good Christian, we are to have faith that things will get better.
Dear Editor,
“Whether you think you can or you can’t, either way you are right.” The preceding quote from Henry Ford continues to resonate throughout the short history of man, inspiring and motivating multitudes in its wake. Ford’s famous and timeless quote has no doubt over time become permanently etched in the minds of countless humans, never departing from their consciousness. Presumably, it must have played a pivotal role in the conception, birth and reign of his automobile empire. Similarly, the historical Jesus Christ of the bible if indeed he performed “miracles” must have been able also to achieve his supernatural feats after believing first with every fibre of his being that he can.
Henry Ford, like Jesus Christ, like so many others were able to convince themselves that any conceivable outcome or possibility that is stored internally is attainable once one is capable of removing any iota of doubt from one’s awareness. As humans including Jesus Christ, Henry Ford, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, etcetera, etcetera, we seem to share in equal doses a predisposition and impulse that enable us to accomplish a psychological state that assures us something is true even in the absence of proof.
But of course it’s quite understandable and reasonable too for us to think and conclude that the idea of just believing doesn’t exist in a vacuum. As simply persuading oneself that something is achievable or true in the absence of supporting proof doesn’t automatically translate or is equivalent to absolutely guaranteeing its manifestation or coming into being. Evidently, there are other forces and factors that partake in the realization of one’s goals held internally, whether it be material, spiritual or mental. The gestation period from the conception to birth of one’s internally stored beliefs does require also physical and mental labour which apparently seems to vary with different individuals.
Seemingly, some among us seems to labour disproportionately less than others to bring about similar circumstances. There is purportedly an ideal internal state that one has to emulate or assume first, which subsequently influences other contributing factors such as physical exertion necessary for achieving one’s aim. Since this state of one’s mind when in belief mode is not perceptible and remains largely immeasurable and unobservable it becomes humiliatingly difficult to articulate. So, when we claim that we believe, how do we know that we believe when we cannot say definitively what it means for one to believe.
Believing is a highly subjective matter that is at best unlearnable. Ford might have been right and so was Christ in particular when he said, “Believe and it shall be done for you.” But regrettably both men were aware of their limitations to provide provable accounts of the psychological state that characterises what it means to believe. They (Ford and Christ) were acutely aware that believing resides outside of the faculty of the intellect and couldn’t be accessed and understood by intelligence. To experience the state of mind Ford, Christ and others advocated for by way of their inspiring quotes requires one to enter into contact with these titans and that, I am terribly afraid, is easier said than done.
This confidence without clarity which distinguishes believing in the absence of proof is an inspiring and powerful force which motivates us all to act convinced of a particular outcome even when we are surrounded by evidence that points to the contrary. Depending on the intensity of our inner convictions our spirits ignite causing it to burn in some cases uncontrollably throughout our bodies. Those who toil ceaselessly fuelled by this inner confidence and burning will persevere and labour incessantly until their beliefs are made manifest. They are so consumed by an unwavering certainty that reassures the externalisation of what is held within that their bodies now become enslaved and subservient to their inner beliefs so much so, that it ceases to be cared for, regarded and respected.
Sadly, there aren’t any known litmus tests or units of measurement to quantify or examine the strength or force of our beliefs; nothing to say or inform us how much we actually believe in the likely manifestation of our goals. And even if some among us are able to attain absolute belief unawares – they somehow unknown to themselves have assumed the psychological state that characterises absolute belief – this might very well be wholly inadequate in the realisation of their beliefs.
So, Henry Ford’s “whether you think you can or you can’t, either way you are right” and Jesus Christ’s “believe and it shall be done for you” may very well be just what they are; just purely inspiring quotes and statements. Ford and Christ, amongst other authors of motivating quotes that call one to believe, probably were unable to articulate and verify the complex processes involved from believing in the conception of an idea to its birth, leaving us instead with rather highly stimulating but at best unverifiable and empirically impoverished statements.
Orlando Patterson
Dear Editor,
Quite a number of Black intellectual continues to misleadingly dominate the climate of opinions on the theme; reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans by former colonial European institutions of slavery. The idea that contemporary institutions and governments of former slave holding European empires should make amends for the “atrocities” that were committed against the ancestors of people of African descent has no basis in logic and neither can it be empirically supported.
The logic that A (A being Governments and institutions of former slave-holding countries) is responsible for what B (the ancestors of A) did is at best specious and outlandishly absurd! Notwithstanding, some Black intellectuals, very much aware of this fallacy, quite often skillfully resort to the intricacies of language to argue fervently for redress for the “wrongs” that were supposedly committed against their ancestors.
The formation of any concept or idea to aid in one’s understanding of what the nature of man has done to his fellow man usually has strategies for its formation; strategic goals to be achieved, whether it be political, moral or economical, and slavery and reparations being concepts/ideas, and neutral ones at that, is no different.
The concept of slavery was conceptualised eons after man began naturally enslaving man and continues to be a state of nature to this day; apparently more biological determinism and less of free will. Seemingly it’s one of our many human frailties and “default” settings which it seems no amount of education and nurturing can undo. However, the operation of language by many black intellectuals pays scant regard to this fact, instead choosing to play on the moral sensibilities of Africans in the diaspora in pursuit of their personal goals.
Slavery is a natural phenomenon that still persists and alarmingly so, particularly on the continent of Africa, and a combination of factors have caused and still cause and enable some groups to be dominated and enslaved by others. And no amount of moralising and intellectualising will alter or adjust this cruel and inflexible truth.
So, thus far, has the narrative of reparation done more for the advancement and empowerment of people of African descent or has it encouraged the perpetuation of the culture of mendicancy and handouts? Let’s look at the pros and cons of reparations. Let’s look at the scientific evidence from any cost/benefit analysis for reparations. And finally, let’s look objectively at the concept of slavery in its entirety. Then and only then we might very well begin to recognise all the myths and falsities supporting its foundation.
Orlando Patterson
Minister Panneflek: Do we really need another public holiday for our businesses to stay closed or have to pay overtime if we chose to open anyhow? Why did the [Council of Ministers – Ed.] COM not just give their employees the day off and leave the rest of the economy do its thing! We are this COVID year already losing our shirts and really do not need Government to play Santa Claus at private sector’s (and your empty coffers’) expense!
Mike Ferrier
NAPA Auto Parts (SXM)
