I woke up this morning and looked up at the roof with my two eyes, and I became conscious of the fact that I had my two eyes and a roof that did’nt leak…
I am blessed !

I looked at the lady lying beside me and wished her a good morning, and I became conscious of the fact that I knew that it was my wife and I knew what day we were. My memory was serving me well and no alzheimer seemed to be looming…
I’m blessed !

I got out of bed standing on my two feet and went to have my usual morning p… usual color, usual smell. And I became conscious of the fact that my stomach, liver and kidney had been working hard, while I was sleeping, and had dealt with the excess fat, salt, sugar, rhum or bubbles that I had ingested the day before. All of my body « waste management systems » were functional.
I am blessed !

After my shower I needed to pass the underpants and pants test… put them on with nothing to lean or sit on. I didn’t stumble nor tumble so I passed the test.
Once upon a time I could do this with my eyes closed, but the implacable law of time – there is a time for everything – has had it’s unavoidable effects.
But the delicate systems that helps me keep my balance were still perfectly functional.
I am blessed !

The weather is cool and windy at this time of the year, and prevention is far better that cure, so it’s good to have some warm bushtea first thing in the morning, so I had myself some stingen time and lemon grass from the backyard and made my morning bushtea, and since it was pom’seret season, I had my health fruit of the day at hand. The pom’grana tree was next in line for giving…
I am blessed !

In my back poket I found a forgotten 5 dollars bill, just enough to fulfill my morning prayer : « give us this day our daily bread… »
I am blessed !

As I was standing in line at the bakery, the baby looked at me over his mother’s shoulder, I made a discret sweet eye at him. He answered me with a discret sweet eye. I smiled, he smiled back at the perfect stranger that I was for him. That short, discret but rich « conversation » also made my day.
I am blessed !

All these things and so much more we take for granted
until we have them no more.

So let us enjoy whatever blessings we have,
and may yours be plenty all year round
Be blessed!

We survived Irma, we saw fires in California and we smelled the fumes from the dump

The United Nation has a plan to reduce global warming, but most nations would not implement the necessary policies.
Therefore we (specially small islands) are exposed, according to recent research, to more and more extreme weather condition (rising waters, stronger huricanes, more numerous fluddings…with all the socio-economic disruptions that occur consequently)
If governments can’t make the necessary changes for their countries,  then the changes must come from the citizens, individually.

What can we do locally (among other things)?:
It is possible to use less water by using a shorter program on the washing machine. Close the tap while brushing you teeth or soaping you body. And if you catch the rinse water from the washing machine in a bath pan, then yo can « wash dung » the porch with it… saving you a few dollars.

It’ is possible to reduce the use of air conditioning devices, whether in your car or in your home. At this time of the year, the atmosphere is pretty cool at night. Turn off the aircondition and open the windows. Your mosquitoe screen will keep that blood sucker out and let the cool breeze in.

It is possible to clean your glass windows and doors with the paper from your daily news paper, after you have read it. Just damp it slightly. That colored liquid in a plastic bottle could be useful for big businesses but not for me. The factory that made it produced polution to produce it. The boat that brought it here produced more polution, then when I send it to the dump it feeds the fire big time… some news papers are free, others are dog cheap… let’s act smart.

It is possible to do some walking when shopping. Save yourself the stress of the trafic jam on main street Mar’gut or front street great bay. You will be also saving gas and maybe time. And that « ole lady » that did’nt see you in years will be glad to chat with you for a minute : « long time I ain’ see yo, how yo do ? And how yo faader ? Wat about yo big sister, shey still in deh states ?
That too is a good deed.

It is possible to get or buy local foods (vegetable, fruit or meat), once a week, which creates a win win equation. It’s good for your health (no pesticides), it did not come on poluting boat or plane and it gives well deserved dignity to those who worked the soil.

So triple R program is good for us, because it contributes to slow global warming and helps to better distribute food and energy to all parts of the world. It also saves us some money. But it’s efficiency depends on the numbers involved.

Definitions : (found with google)
The origin of the phrase, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”, is often debated. But it can be traced back to the underlying movement of becoming environmentally conscious in the 1970’s. This was during the time of the Vietnam War when Americans were demanding that air pollution, waste and water quality needed attention.

Reducing and Reusing products cuts down on manufacturing pollution, just as the use of Recycled instead of virgin materials prevents pollution in industrial processes. Saving money: Households can save money by Reusing materials and products and by practicing smart shopping habits that Reduce waste.

Using the « 3Rs » is good for the environment by using up fewer resources. It’s useful for society because more people get to benefit from items that are reused and recycled. Recycling is often cheaper than finding and refining new materials.

Less space must be devoted to landfills and garbage dumps.

Dear father Christmas, season’s greetings.

Please find hereafter my list of wishes for this Chrismas,

I was not a perfect person this year but I think I wasn’t too harmful to my surroundings.
I suppose I could have done better, so I promise that I will try harder to make this world a better place to live.

I am very concerned with the challenges you are faced with, to satisfy the needs for presents for so many people. When I was born the world counted around 2.7 billion inhab. Today we are more than 7 billions. I wonder how you manage.

So I have decided to help you.
Because of my age, my need for Christmas gifts are close to costless

This is what I don’t need :
No more neckties and no more belts, I have enough.
My shirts and shoes are still good enough to wear next year.
My smartphone and my laptop can last, hopefully, till next Christmas.
I have no use for fancy pens and funny keychains and all material things of the sort
I have a Stock of unread books, so give the one you had for me to that school child that can’t buy it.

Here is what can make me glad :
If the children are glad, then I am be glad
If there’s harmony in the families, then I am glad
If I can be of help to neighbors, village or country, then I am glad
If I can keep my mental and spiritual sanity, and enough physical health, then I am glad
If I give more joy than sadness, more kindness than disdain, more love than hate, then I am glad.

Last but not least.
Because of your severall hundred years of age, I cannot question your wisdom,
but may I share this thought with you.
Nowadays some children are very demanding. They want everything they see.
May I suggest that you limit the number of gifts per child so that every child in the world can get a lil’ something… and it is good that they know the value of quality over quantity.

May I also suggest…
that while in the caribbean, you use donkeys and not deers, to carry your heavy loads. they will better bear the heat, and when you pass in my yard, let them eat some of my grass, that too will make me so glad.

Yours truly,

Me.

There is always a significant difference between what you want to do,
what you can do and what you do effectiveley…And politicians to be need to know this:
Before you are elected you know for sure what you want to do
When you are in, you learn what you can and what you cannot
And only when you are ready to leave you know what you did effectively.

In that line of thought it is always good to establish farfetched
objectives while being pragmatic and you’d better be willing to adjust
to changing realities.

That being said, during the last severall months my mind is running
on this ambitious question :
how to interrup the downtrend, if any, of Sin maartiners on Sin maartin :
The demographics (reality),
The political(pre-eminence),
The economical (power)
The social (presence),
The cultural (existence),
My answsers to these questions are based on laws of nature, one of which
is translated in the old saying: birds of a feather flock together.

Based on that I thought of 3 strategies to stop or slow the downtrend that
I mentionned above. (this again, is easier said than done):

1 – Try hard (through lobbying) to have your top birds in effecient positions.
2 – Teach the birds of your feather best practices to gain wealth
3 – Occupy and control space where food is always available.

Point 1 : try hard through lobbying to have your people in efficient
positions.This is done by being informed of opportunities and sharing that knowledge with the birds of your feather.

For instance : there are 5 high schools on the french side.
Each of them employs a management personnel with the title of « Adjoint Gestionnaire ». during the next five years all of the persons holding those positions will leave the island or retire. Any person holding such position benefits of permanent free lodging… The
studies are not easy (masters level) but I know that we have many
students of that potential.

Teaching also has good opportunities. Only a small fraction of the 800 teachers working here, are locals. And we are sure that having more local teachers will help in improving the academic performance of the students. I am ready to give advice on these opportunities. The next advantage is this one. Even In case of exeptionnal conditions, God forbid, they will stay here because they belong here.

The same analysis can be made concerning the Hospital and health sector.

Point 2 : teach your people best practices…is self explanatory.
When you have found opportunities, your people need to be trained adequatly. That again depends on how much and what quality information you can get.

Point 3 : occupy and control the space where food is always available.
This is based on the simple observation that every body need to eat every day. We also know that people are more and more concerned by the quality of what they eat.

It’s better to be depended on for food that to be dependant

At the end of another huricane season,
allow me to repeat this simple evidence:
what we are today is only the consequence
of what happened during all our yesterdays...
and what will happen in all our tomorrows,
depends on all that we do with what we are, now !

and because the moment is so auspicious
This is the day when thanks are to be given

Thanks and praises be given to the allmighty
whether you call him God or any other name
Thanks for heat from the sun and good water for life
Thanks for air that we breathe from the first to the last

let's just be giving thanks

Thanks to all the forefathers who planted the land
Thanks to those who built strong walls and dug such deep wells
Thanks to those who cut cane for sugar... and sucked salt
Thanks to all the braves, those who went over yonder,

Let's just be giving thanks

Thanks to the sweet land that carried us til' now
Thanks for the Yam and all the sweet potatoes
Thank for the corn and all the bananas
Thanks for all the meat that we eat on sunday

Let's just be giving thanks

And all the seas around gave us enough fish
and the conchs and the shrimps and the crabs where there
And when balaou and jack season was in
Is when ery'body had a lil' something

Let's just be giving thanks

thanks to those of today, who can see who vee be
Thanks to those of today who keep the talk with us
Thanks to all for whom heritage is meaningful
Thanks to you who consider our all being

Let's just be giving thanks

Thanks too, to all our children, grands and great grands
hoping they would be gratefull for the good we did
Hoping they would forgive our lil' shortcomings
Hoping they could just be glad to say who they fuh

Let's just be giving thanks

I choose to define the Sin maaten nation as the people who have in common all or most of the following :

• A territory to protect
• Shared cultural habits including a language,
• The collective consciousness of a common past,
• The common struggles of the day
• And a forseable future together (whatever changing circumstances may occur)          I also choose to include more than exclude.

This definition has nothing to do (yet) with nationalism, less with independance. It is a way of preserving the small fraction of a cultural reality which adds its own stone to the great make up of one humanity. It could be small but no less valuable.

1 – A territory to protect.

The island (french side plus dutch side) is the territory to protect. It is said that we are one people and indeed, indigenous people never considered the frontier as a barrier. The Christmas traditions of guavaberry punch and tart, sweet potatoe puddin and serenades belong to all, and sin maaten english is spoken before french or dutch, and on Easter monday, whether on Galion Beach (in « lamijot bay ») or on mullet bay beach, you cannot distinguish who is from which side, and some authorities from the french side could well be born on the dutch side, and the governor of the dutch side family could well be from the french side… that’s not important for us.

2 – Shared Cultural habits including a language

That should be self explanatory but to be more explicit, here are some habits that have existed and should be perpetuated :

funerals : shops would close their doors on the passage of the « cortège funèbre » as a sign of respect to the deceised and family.
Boxing day : was a day of rest after the new years celebrations. (easter monday and wit monday are also big days)
Local foods : Journey cake, fungi and boil fish, pea soup and dumpling where some of the must haves to eat more that often.

3 – The collective consciousness of a common past.

It is easy to understand that the more the common memories, whether it’s friends or family, the stronger the solidarity. And this goes for a people wanting to go forward together.

But we are faced with the question of where to put the cursor : to 3OOO, 300 or 30 years, or somewhere in between.

I suspect that most of us don’t have ties to the land that dates back to 1718. (300 years ago)

I also know that we suffered a demographic explosion that was in full swing in 1988.(30 years ago)

The question then is how involved have you been in the struggles of those days to claim having a common past :

1990 the customs crisis and all that came there after

1995 Luis and all that came there after

2003 the « consultation populaire » and all that came there after

(to name a few events that concerned the french side only)

Look at yourself and choose your camp accordingly.

4 – The common struggles of the day

In the aftermath of Irma, reconstruction is the order of the day. Some people had fled and are probably waiting on better days to come and reap the efforts of those who survived the storm and the subsequent « stormy days ». Considering the circumstances, we cannot not give respect to those who remained and put shoulder to shoulder with the natives…

5 – a forseable future together.

It goes without saying that most of the indigenous people have an eternal future together.

It sames evident that many non indigenous sin maartiners could claim a legitimate right to be part of this nation, because of the common past that they have on this land, because of the present shared struggles and because of their will to march on together… Their inclusion in the equation might make us stronger.

(My opinion)

Some of the people living here (mostly of caucasian descent, to say the truth) often express their « being sick of hearing » the narratives surrounding that part of our History that concerns colonisations and slavery (which for the most dramatic part took place lets say for 300 years, 1550 to 1850).

It could be, that they have a slight guilt complex, which could be understandable ; Of course they have no direct responsibility in whatever wrong their ancestry did but it is good to admit that one’s ancestry held some responsibility, in how things went, good or bad, long time ago.

On the other hand, some of us (mostly afro descendants) are in a constant recalling of that painfull part of human history. The weakest minds could be seeking revenge for their ancestors. The brightest minds are thinking in terms of reparations. And the blame game can go on and on between the sons of the victims who consider that their difficulties of today are the result of their pasts, and the sons of the beneficiaries of the ugly system, who will say that they, personnally, had nothing to do with past events, so they owe nothing. But it is good to know that no sustainable human agreement can be achieved through constant distrust or out of putting your adversary in a permanent position of inferiority, or on the bench of the accused.

Further more, it is undeniable that the knowledge that we have of those dark days was written by one party essentially. They gave their version of what happened, some of which could be the truth, but it is surely not all the truth.

The simple fact that Christopher Columbus is described as has « discovered » anything is simply not the truth but this is what the school books have been saying for centuries, and what we sometimes repeat without thinking.

And the comic books have not been portraying anything different:From Batman to Captain America, from Spiderman to catwoman, from Mikey Mouse to Snoopy, From Blek le Roc to Akim, from the most strong and intelligent Tarzan, to the incredible Hulk, from Lucky Luke and the bad Daltons to superman and his super girlfriend Lois Lane , and the list goes on… is how our culture was constructed… and now has to be deconstructed.

Which makes it so important to hear what the shark has to say… and he would say that it is not out of bad temper and character that I took a leg from the man, but only because of necessity and survival, for me it is food, just like for you, throwing a live lobster on the blazzing barbeccue, is only good food. But Hell for the lobster… should’nt they to (the lobsters), be treated with a minimum dignity by reducing their sufferings… but that’s another discussion.

An honest conversation is more than necessary,  out of any guilt nor greed, out of  any fear nor ego, with humility and tolerance… But I must admit… it is not easy because of human nature.

Humans are of a tribal nature.

How pretty is this story
of a brave man called Martin
A good soul worthy of fame
for what he did with his cloak

How pretty is this story…
A so called discovery
By a passing-by sail boat
On the birthday of Martin

How pretty is this story
Signing on top concordia
a treaty we must accept
As a part of our past

How pretty is this story
That Martin shared at his risk
And Sin maaten too has shared
Endangering its being

How pretty is this story
A story that was then made…
Can’t we be the makers, now ?
Taking it from here to there

How pretty is this story
A name that became legend
A legend that became real
Whatever took place back then

How pretty is this story…
And please allow me to dream
That two pieces of one coat
Become once again one coat,

One people !

I came from that, not so distant shore
where and when salt picking was in style
and where many men left for elsewhere
For getting a roof needed some cash