By Gerald V. Paul

Consider the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: “When we look at modern man , we have to face the fact that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit … we’ve learned to fly the air as birds yet we haven’t learned to walk the Earth as brothers and sisters.”

Ah! At last, after all these glorious years, the Eyes Guy is caught between a rock and a hard place.

On one hand, the dispute continues in Guyana over a questionable election and protesters in the streets call for a recount of the ballots – the right thing to do in a free and democratic society? These are the feelings, rightly or wrongly, of over half the voting population of 200,000 in a population under a million.

On the other hand, the sad commentary on carding / racial profiling kept on the front burner by a significant section of the Toronto community, including the media, both positive and negative on the police. But allyuh look story, eh, eh.

Lord have mercy – but Eyes ent, (dats Trini), oops, nah write ‘bout dat. Say wah?

Write Eyes … right on. Gee, dem brimstone and hellfire? Righteous indignation! Preach! But allyuh look story, eh, eh.

You see, Eyesers, I did start this column earlier, then had a discussion with my bossman, oops, (dis nah Guyana bai, vote like a power drunk boss fuh change) rather, servant leader Brad and decided to do the carding / racial profiling thing.

Fact: our community had a ‘love-in’ with Deputy Chief of Police Peter Sloly and with Chief Mark Saunders “getting de wuk”, now there seems to be a perpetual, nay, vicious attack on carding / racial profiling – with our chief indirectly having to be like God and deliver the “set His people free of carding.” Amen?

Pray tell, dear Eyesers, why, oh why this frontal attack when our beloved chief has so many things on his plate but more so, when almost weekly our community has the shame of “Black on Black” violence?

Our young men shooting each other but carding / racial profiling gets the attention! My wise boss suggests that’s the manifestation of inequality, including poverty, racism, mental health, etc, resulting in … carding.

Oh, well, but Eyes, ent, oops, nah write ‘bout dat!

Yes, Eyesers, as half of Guyana’s voting population  is virtually at a stand-still in light of myriads of questions as to their disenfranchisement and the defacto government acting like a boss in a land of “change”,  some members of the Diaspora will be at a Guyana Festival in Toronto: business, pleasure and protest on their minds. How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land of change, like a boss, replacing one set of people for another set of people?

Guyana, what a country, perpetually growing and learning, like success is just a journey, not a destination?

Three steps forward, two steps back?

“I want to be a good president,” David Granger said publicly and prior to the election he said, “I am not Burnham” but he had all the trappings of the Burnham regime in his pomposity and “ceremonstroscity.”

As for the promise to the Diaspora when the PNC / AFC / APNU were in Canada? Allyuh come bak a  Guyana , abee ah guh gee yuh, safety. And the shootings of business people, crime, violence? They are not a-changing. What a country; not heaven on Earth, as promised.

Then his underlings (lesser bosses) sent home “until further notice” two permanent secretaries; dismissed several employees in government and state agencies; demoted, transferred and reduced remuneration of most of the Presidential Guards and imposed capricious disciplinary sanction on a senior official of the Child Care and Protection Agency.

Just then my dear professor (Pentecostal pastor’s wife) inboxed the Eyes Guy: “Nah tek worries. Yuh blood pressa a guh tun up).”

So, I got off Facebook, took a walk, returned to say this too shall pass – whether Eyes write ‘bout dat or not.

One Caribbean Love – you, too, Guyana posse as you do your three steps forward, two steps back. Lord, have mercy! Prayers.