At long last, a shepherd not afraid to take risks in the interest of his flock!

The in-depth comment coming from Archbishop Gabriel Malzaire is most commendable.  It’s good to have in the seat of local religious power one of our own who feels free to speak out. Didn’t know he had it in him. Well, better to say I didn’t know him. I am therefore impressed by his self-insertion into the topic of the day and his candid engagement of it. 

Here’s hoping that we can rely on him to arrange some serious miracles. He has not only spoken out but has put in place an action plan. He has also invited others to join him. We expect overt follow-up.

I trust he understands the nature of the beast—that it is, yes, part and parcel of the universal erosion of values and decency in general.  But here’s the rub: the miasma of the bam-bam wall is birthed squarely in the belly of the wider plague of home- grown, home-inspired, current contagion that evidently has our dear Saint Lucia by the throat. 

It is a feature of the easily predicted top-down diseases of recent vintage (two years and counting) now galloping in all directions and corners of our island. It is first cousin to the murders, the school indiscipline, the vile and hugely embarrassing conduct coming from one side of our parliament, the laissez-faire attitude of those sworn to serve and protect us from all varieties of harm.

In other words, let’s just come right out and say it, we are in a very bad place as our Saint Lucia keeps sinking lower and lower into oblivion. But is it really oblivion? There is clearly not a lack of awareness.  Unconsciousness?  Not so. There is full awareness, the planning, or is it rather the plotting, as to how their self-serving can take us closer to depravity?  Nor is the bam-bam wall a stand-alone phenomenon. It is cut from the same cloth as the “untold story” that saw Dale E?liott arrested and incarcerated without charge or public explanation by the appropriate authorities. That the mysterious brouhaha also involved a particular government minister is more cause for pause. They are all symptoms of the top-down disease of a twisted hierarchy. It’s déjà vu. At least those of us who experienced the 70s as young adults and older citizens.  

Today’s specimens, that is, the not-so-young present-day Turks, seem incapable of feeling any degree of shame. Say, if we do not come out, stand out and shout out, we will all be subjected to the whims and fancies of those of the twisted hierarchy, chomping at the bit, plotting to take us to places they can’t wait to go. And for egregiously selfish reasons!  

You ain’t seen nothing yet . . .