Amina Blackwood MeeksLIKKLE MISS Jing Bang sey she decide to teck a walk into de Park dat Sunday evening and she buck up a programme going on dat was being interrupted by de pretty likkle child who was handing a note to de emcee to read out to de audience.
"Dear Mister MC and other people, please help me to find my parents. I do believe they are lost. Many times on these occasions they have wandered off and gone astray and I have sat patiently and waited for them to find their way back. This time, however, they have stayed much longer than is normal and I do believe they are lost. They might not be able to find their way back without a lot of help."
LOSING IT
JB sey it nuh look like de MC did tek de chile seriously, for you know how MC usually tek it mek joke when people sey dem laas dem pikney a show, so him ask bout "Do you have any idea where they might be"? Well widout hesitation de chile sey one time she did hear one of har parents sey dem was totally lost in de job an cudden quite find dem way round de money-making business but she didn't understand what dat could mean.
Anadda time dem did sey it look like dem was going to lose demself in de rat race an rat is a very faas ting. But what was de scariest ting of all was dat sometimes it was just piece a dem missing. "Because", said the child, "It is not uncommon in our house to hear talk of people losing their mind, or their patience, even admitting to losing their heads".
Dat was de crux of de problem, ascardin to JB. De pikney dem know what a gwaan. Big people lose dem head. All de time when big people cock up foot ah knock cocktail glass and a meck pronouncement bout how we are losing an entire generation, and perhaps we should just write them off and start again, it look like dem never realise sey de pikney dem did know all along who was de lost generation. So right dere now she start to try understand what lass really mean.
It nuh mean sey de pikney dem dead, for if it was dat people wudden a talk bout write dem off. So dem mus mean something else. One time she did hear sey lass is akin to deprivation. Dat mean sey yu had a ting an yu wake up an low an behole it vanish widout a trace. Ef is dat de parents dem mean, dat is one bag of idle talk. Dat mean sey dem do not secure dem house and pikney when night come and dem sleep like dem ded, an meck smaddy invade de insecure house and meck off wid de pikney and dem never know wan ting till dem beauty res done or de effecks of de cocktail party wear off. Laas could mean failure to keep control of or allegiance to ? She sey dat sound like de laas parents syndrome; lack of certainty of who or what to kip allegiance to.
LOOKING FOR GUIDANCE
AND DIRECTION
Being unable to kip har mout wit a bridle, JB invite herself to de stage, tek possession of microphone and speak. Hear har "Our children know where they are, in a lonely place looking for guidance and direction. Dem don't wander and gone nowhere. Anywhere dem go a smaddy carry dem for dem bawn widout knowledge of where big smaddy have been. Yu tink dis likkle chile bawn knowing anyting bout dis Park? Den how dem fe lass? A mus de smaddy what bring him gane and kean fine dem way back."
Den she start ask de audiene if dem have any idea where de parents could be. One smaddy tek out newspiapa an start look so JB inform him sey is nat as somebody dead dem end up into obituaries. Him sey is nat dere him was looking, but chu being as how in de past he found many long lost friends into de social pages, him decide to see ef any parents laas demself in dere.
One nex smaddy volunteer to go up to de ortopedic ward an search for dem did hear sey one time dere was a smaddy who did lass dem way climbing up de social ladder when smaddy else did shake it an him drap out an bruk up an dat was nat de firs experience of brukkin up. One time him did laas up de corporate ladder till him resort fe mek him owna ladder. By de time dem find him laas inna dat too, summuch a him bruk up de poor children had a debil of time recognising what dem cudda put back togedda.
Well it look like dat start a veritable Crucible of Confessions of who and who know pikney who lose dem parents. One smaddy sey dem know of parents who disappeared trying to lose weight. Lose summuch a demelf a look glamourous fe adda people dat when dem reach home de pikney did not recognise dem. Search party clean out every known gynasium looking for de rest of dem but widout success.
EMOTIONAL ABSENTEEISM
Dis precipitated a frenzy. Smaddy sey fe him parents was lost in emotional absenteeism, just come trow dung money and gifts and gane. Nex smaddy sey fe dem parents was spiritually deceased, nobaddi never see dem smile yet, cudden dig one scrap a memory outa dem bout dem grandparents or which part dem born or what dem use to do when dem was pikney, in fack dem cudden memba if dem was ever pikney.
JB sey dung to one big marketing executive get up an sey ah nuff pikney him separate from dem parents by making dem de objects of marketing tactics. When him dun de pikney dem get obese pan de whole heap a fass food him advertise sey good fe dem and dem fe pester dem parents fe buy. Chu de same means him sey de pikney dem tun rude for dem learn fe manipulate fe get dem own way under de guise of learning to make choices an it look like de parents dem did fraid fe tell dem sey choice is nat a decision, so dem cudda mek all de choice dem want de decision-making centre was somewhere else.
JB sey if summuch parents get separated from dere children by losing dere heads, how we expeck de poor likkle innocent dem fe manage? Dem do not know where to look. Dem come into dis world needing a guide, somebody fe warn dem from mek de wrong turn down de dead-end lanes. Dem nuh really know how fe come find people who lass down dere. So JB is appealling to all who know where de parents of de likkle chile in de Park and de parents of all likkle children like him might be, fe help dem find dem way home fe Child Month.
