What Encouragement!

 

 

What encouragement it is

To promise someone that’s down

Something not likely to happen?

They must think I’m a clown.

 

Politicians do it everyday

And especially at Election time

And they mostly get away with it

Particularly with the blind.

 

Christians do it as well

Like when they tell you to pray,

It’s their solution to every problem,

It’s their affordable get-away.

 

The apostle James mentions it:

Send the mendicant away,

More than likely he’ll be satisfied

If I tell him I will pray.

 

I may have the means to help

But prayer will do so much more

Than giving him from my abundance

Before I let him go.

 

Think of someone in pain

Moaning and groaning in anguish,

What great encouragement is it

To leave them with a wish?

 

I can see you are in great pain

But you know, it could be worse,

You could be in yonder churchyard

In the back of a hearse.

 

Or you go to church a Sunday

Weighed down with worldly care

And the preacher beats up upon you

Trying to convince you he cares.

 

 

What great encouragement

Blaming people for their woe!

You are getting just what you deserve,

Change or there will be more.

 

What encouragement is it

To give a man who has no feet

The most expensive pair of shoes

To walk on the dusty streets?

 

 

Or to promise 100 buses

That will be arriving next year

To sort out a critical present challenge

That many commuters fear.

 

Like the loss of employment

Because workers arrive late

And children missing time from school

And currently not up to date.

 

What encouragement is it

To blame the last Government

For all we are experiencing now

In our present torment?

 

Two elections since

And nothing much has changed

At least, for the most vulnerable,

Don’t you think this strange?

 

 

What encouragement is it

For the at-risk people living here

With all the shooting and the killing

To be told it’s worse elsewhere?

 

What encouragement is it

To pay exorbitant salaries to some

While the employable unemployed

Keeps on getting none?

 

Paying a barrage of Ministers,

Not to mention several consultants

Out of the Barbadian tax payers’ coffers

To sustain their extravagance.

 

And to boot, before I finish,

The middle class is being wiped out,

What encouragement is there in this?

None without a doubt!

 

 

What encouragement is it

To promise that better will come

And this for the last several years

When to-date there is none?

 

Pseudo encouragement I call it,

It's only in the mind

But it never rolls out in actual fact

At any given time.

 

Stewart Russell © May 1, 2024

Amidst Fear and Anxiety

 

 

 

Once in this fair isle of ours

We felt sheltered from the world,

Nestled in the Caribbean Sea

Barbados, the gem, a pearl.

 

We used to hear of great peril

From many regions afar

But here with our Caribbean neighbours

We were not so marred.

 

And then it began to change

Not suddenly, but gradually

For Barbados, the gem, the pearl,

The pride of the Caribbean Sea.

 

Now amidst fear and anxiety

We wonder what’s to come next,

It is as if the whole world is aggrieved

And everybody is vexed.

 

COVID-19 is raging sore

We thank God for the recent ease,

Delta appears to be losing its grip

Due to the Omicron squeeze.

 

 

But in the midst of the virus ease

Homicide is raising its head,

Just last night on a chat I learned

Another youth was shot dead.

 

Add to that the PSV driver

Who lost life’s battle yesterday,

Shot in the head by his assassin

The gun has become the way.

 

The knife is still being used

To settle disputes and altercations,

Two deaths from separate incidents

The result of great vexation.

 

In the day and in the night

People are trembling in their boots,

In fear of those that are just awaiting

The command to start to shoot.

 

 

With their trigger-happy fingers

Just eager to test their weapons,

They swagger like gunfighters of a time

When looks alone would threaten.

 

And while we battle COVID-19

Another, but subtle fight is raging,

It’s the fight to maintain our sanity

Giving all that we are engaging.

 

Crime and the cost of living

Fierce competitors in these times

Doing their utmost worse, it seems,

To destabilize our minds.

 

Government in its balancing act

On economic ropes, barely visible,

Is teetering and tottering precariously

And so are our nation’s people.

 

 

And all this exponentially adding

To our fear and anxiety,

A day at a time now seems too much

To handle this complexity.

 

Nightmares for taxpayers

As finance debt unabatedly climbs,

How our Government will negotiate this

Is boggling to the mind!

 

New laws appear to be coming,

And many are in favour of the move

But what is certainly obvious to me,

Progressively less are enthused.

 

The identity positions are diverse

From world views to myriad genders,

And many are changing their stance

From acceptance to offenders.

 

Minorities are now more militant

In agitating for their perceived rights

And the apathy of a pluralistic society

Is adding fuel to their fight.

 

 

The church appears to be clueless

Having equated God with our prayers,

It matters not what we do or become

God must show that He cares.

 

Whatever the behaviour or attitude

Just call on God in prayer,

He’ll overlook our every disobedience

And respond to our every care.

 

But we do certainly err

Not knowing the Holy Scriptures

And what we dare believe to be truth

Is our delusional picture.

 

 

Amidst our fear and anxiety

It is important that we turn to God

And as we do this, bear in our mind,

We must align to His call.

 

God is not our convenience

That is unconditionally on our side,

He is I AM THAT I AM, the Creator,

From whom none of us can hide.

 

“With Him still on the people’s side”

Is a grave misinterpretation,

Rather, “Who is on the Lord’s side?”

Is much needed information.

 

In the midst of our fear and anxiety

God is our ONLY hope

And the sooner we come to accept this

The better we will cope.

 

Stewart Russell © December 12, 2021