The Willie Lynch Syndrome
It is not beneath us to respect one another; young to old, man to woman, friend to foe.
Today, I was in the Old Hope Road KFC waiting at the counter for my number to be called.
The server said, 428 and a short, dark man, walking with a agitated stride which caused him to take up more space than normal, answered and came up. He accidentally brushed a younger guy and this ensued into an argument.
Young man: “A di second time yuh a brush me. Me nuh waan nuh man brush pan me man.”
Older man: “Whappen to yuh star? Wah yuh problem?”
Young man: “Yuh see me love man. Don’t brush pan me again star.”
Older man: “Yow a who yuh a talk bout love man. Hey bwoy?”
Of course, di argument escalated to both chucking badness and who have dem gun an dem tings.
Unnecessary stupidness.
Willie Lynch must be cackling with laughter and frolicking in smug expressions to know his curse achieved his target and supersede even 300 years. That was his aim and his speech says it.
Jamaicans are indeed one of the most aggressive set of people you will meet and at the same time some of the most spiritual. It is a conundrum or is it? Even the children of Israel had their issues. But Jamaicans suffer from the pointed end of Willie Lynch Syndrome. The young against the old. The rich against the poor. The man against the woman and the Browning against the dark skinned.
Stupidness.
Generational and slavery strongholds.
As a nation we must pray against this. We must work against it and we establish values and attitudes not only for families, but for our dealings with one another.
If the young man had looked closer, he would have seen a man with a disability and just chill out. But know, he saw an office and God forbid it was the start of some silly gang war.
Stupidness indeed.
Respect is due. Give respect and maybe, just maybe our crime rate would finally be on the decline.