December 9th 2013
“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the star ship Enterprise” Star Date Dec 9.
Aye Gervs, how you going? “I dey poor and polite” yea, dais me I am poor (not rich). Say what you want just spell my name right. I believe I am poor, and I associate with “poor” people and the more vulnerable in our society. For the month of November I did some work with some “at risk kids” and it empowers me to empower them. Just last week an NGO approached me to do some work with some girls next year, and every Christmas morning for the past 12 years without fail before I have Breakfast in my house, I am at a Home feeding the staff and kids there. These are some of the people our society sees as “poor”.
Whenever i go to the bank to withdraw some money and ask myself “when is payday”. I living for the next pay. I tell allyu, I poor. Poor, Polite and proud. When I was recently degreed (Graduated with my first degree) I thought I was middle class, or that I was going to be. Somebody tell me the least you should get paid is $4500. Well my first job paid $1500, yes it did. Furthermore I spend quite a bit of time (and I have witnesses) well-dressed walking the streets of Port of Spain going from door to door with my resume in a brown envelope. I even work at Tri- Island for a day (allyu remember them?)
So who/where is the middle class. Top three searches via google 1. “Middle Class betrayed, abandoned” (Trinidad Express, November 22, 2011) by K Kishan Valsayn. 2. “Unleash the middle class” (Trinidad Express, November 29th, 2011) By Ralph Maraj and 3. Wake up, middle class (Trinidad Express, June 10 2013) Ralph Maraj again. Well I so confused, The Trinidad Express, and Ralph Maraj like they have a monopoly on the middle class, or the concept.
Ah take a 5 and wheel and come again, I remember they had 4 elections this year and in the last one I hear a man on TV talking about the Middle class and the swing voters (in St. Joseph of course). So I gone back by google, Spin the wheel and ask google for “Trinidad swing voters and middle class”. Google give me “Beware some fool with a gun” (Trinidad Express, November 5th, 2013). I quote “Young people are disengaged and the comfortable middle class with one foot in “foreign” cannot be bothered to vote” by N. Merrell. More Express and more evidence, I am not of the middle class.
In one of my incarnations as a student my friends used to use the term “pulling skin”. You can imagine what it means. Taken at face value of the article titles, they betrayed and abandoned, need to wake up and be unleashed, they comfortable, they have one foot in foreign and they doh vote. Well they have to be a set of skin pullers (if you eh get it you can interchange it with “waste of time”, “non (re) productive” or expert fishermen/Master Baiters. At approaching 40, to be honest, my time for skin pulling done (yes teens years i may have mastured same). Time for some action. So me I poor and trying to be rich (in spirit), with no foot in foreign, cause I staying right here.
I honestly feel there is a middle class here. If they are swing voters, then they must be of value in marginal seats. I am just following the political logic of the last election. I don’t live in a marginal so I must not be one. I really feel there is a middle class, some people say is the university educated people, who consider issues. They consider them at election time evidently, but I does be here whole year grounding with my poor brethren. Where dem does be whole year? I honestly feel there is a middle class here, but in this case I doh like the middle. Yea I want to be rich (in spirit), but I keeping myself grounded among my “poor” brethren. Is left or right, up or down, no middle.
I believe there is a middle class here, but the middle is a middling place, and many of them who in the middle doh meddle. I believe the middle need to meddle a little more with the “poor”. Damn and it rhyme. Take some Brother Valentino – this place nice. video taken from Youtube.
fencelineblog 