By Carlington Wilmot, Freelance WriterTHE COOL Runnings Syndicate, a crew based in Thompson Pen, Spanish Town, St. Catherine, has proven that not every group of young men hanging out on a 'corner' is a threat to society.
Junior 'Pablo' Wignall, Sheldon 'Tatty' Brown and Rohan Shorter deserve a medal of honour for saving the life of a passing motorist.
The crew members tell their story: "We were on the other side of the road running jokes with each other as usual, then we saw a car drive up and park on the opposite side of the road. When the car stopped we became curious, wondering why a beautiful lady like her would want to stop where she can clearly see a gang of men. A little after that, she began looking, but before she could call for help, 'Pablo' was already on his way over to check to see if she was asking for information about somewhere that she could not find. Upon reaching in the middle of the street, she started waving to Pablo for help, then one of the guys shouted, "Gwaan go hear weh di chic a seh, it seems like she like yuh."
Pablo: "When mi go over to the lady she start to explain what was happening to her, it's a lucky thing me is a youth that don't panic easily. When she asked me if me have any asthma pump, same time I remember that Tatty mother trouble with the same sickness. I then shouted out to Tatty run go for your mother asthma (Ventolin) pump quick because di lady look like she a go dead, she a sweat from head to toe. One of the times I heard her saying to herself, 'Lord me dead now'.
EMPTY
Shortly after Tatty came back from his house with his mother's asthma pump but unfortunately it was empty. But the Lord works in mysterious ways. At the same time when Tatty left for his mother's pump, Sheldon was also on his way running for his mother's pump. "The way how Sheldon a run fast him all buck off him big toe but that never stop him from running. When Sheldon come back him bring his mother pump and two tablets. After she got the pump and the pills 15 minutes later she was rejuvenated and had enough energy to take her home."
Poor, misjudged youths
THE EDITOR, Sir:
SO OFTEN we stereotype individuals without even knowing them, particularly if they are from a certain community. Usually it is the inner-city youth who are labelled as bad but this is not always the case.
There are in fact individuals in these so-called ghetto communities who give the place a bad name, but there are the rest, who, despite good, never get highlighted.
I'd like to use this medium to publicly 'big up' the young men from Thompson Pen, St. Catherine, who helped me out recently.
Last week Wednesday night on my way from Keystone, a little way up the road from Thompson Pen, I developed an asthma attack. Driving alone at minutes to midnight was not the ideal time for a situation like this but I had no choice but to stop the vehicle before I passed out. Usually I have my Ventolin pump with me but for some strange reason that night, I could not locate it.
Gasping for air, I signalled to a group of young men sitting across the road. I don't even recall what they were doing, whether playing dominoes or just chilling but I was desperate.
My first thought was 'Oh my God, I'm dead for sure' but then I thought oh well, if they don't kill me then the asthma might.
I'm now very ashamed of my initial thoughts after the way those young men took care of me.
Because of their goodwill I am in a position to say that despite Jamaica's current level of crime, particularly with murders and kidnappings, there is hope after all.
I kept gasping asthma... help me, and they reacted quickly. They even rushed to borrow an asthma pump. They never left my side.
Murphy's Law kicked in. Lo and behold, I was unable to make a call from my cell phone and one of the youth in the group handed me his cell phone. He said, "the credit soon dun but call yuh people dem."
I made the call letting my family know where I was and what had happened.
I left feeling so good. The best I've felt in a long time.
So again 'big up' to the Thompson Pen crew of Junior Wignall, a.k.a. 'Pablo', Sheldon Brown, 'Tatty', Rohan Shorter and company who call themselves the Cool Runnings Syndicate.
I am, etc.,
HAPPY LADY
