“… Throw your soul through every open door, Count your blessings to find what you look for, Turned my sorrow into treasured gold”
~Adele: Rolling in the Deep
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”
~Elbert Hubbard
Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday. That is one of the truest gems of wisdom I have had guide me in life… it came from a song called wear Sunscreen by Baz Luhrman. It prepared me for life by succinctly defining the unpredictable nature and operations of this universe. It would prepare for the many unpredictable and unforeseeable events I would bear witness to. Like when my friend Swizz Bankz passed me on the way to pick breadfruit, I had no idea that by the time I went inside to scroll YouTube for another tutorial on writing novels and short stories to watch, that when my electricity went and I heard the transformer blow, that it was Swizz Bankz that was electrocuted after his picking stick made contact with a light wire. I went from being most annoyed to most distressed when I stepped outside to see people scampering off to see what had happened only to hear “Jah know the man just leff yasso go pick breadfruit and fry out star!” And so like the song… on some idle Wednesday, it wasn’t a Tuesday real trouble that never crossed Swizz Bankz’s worried mind, blindsided him and the community.
The thing is I can’t absolutely say it didn’t cross my troubled mind. Now bare with me as I explore some kind of metaphysics hear. For a few weeks now, I have been having “recurrent” conversations on Electrocution and shock. The first being on a friend, Mike, in the community who died from electricity in a breadfruit tree only a few hours before his departure for England. Then there was Seba Dog, who we were discussing his electrocution in a tree, and I was saying to him how lucky he was that day, as I was on spot and had no idea what to do. Fortunately his son had been there to rescue him. Finally there was my name sake a breddrin named Yannick, more popularly known as Bolo, he died a year or two back in a breadfruit tree in Hanover, he came to mind and then coincidentally I saw his brother, whom I didn’t know but the resemblance was uncanny. Finally is Trevor a Far-i elder of mine, whenever he sees me his hailing style is to touch fist and shake his hand like electricity is passing between us and say CURRENT. So imagine all this metaphysics and coincidence as I examine the currency of life. The flow of energy.
Who is Swizz Bankz and how this relates to Swizz Bankz? Well he is an artiste, a solopreneur, came to Paradise a few years ago and managed to fit in well. Some poeple come to a community and make mischief, that wasn’t Bankz. He was all about trying to make music and money. When he first arrived he used to sell Cash for Gold in front of Stanley’s Patty and fund his career. He is someone I see often, at one point he and a cabal of young trying artistes used to be at my gate late into the night to shooting the breeze. As of late he had been on the front of my mind for some days now as he was always nextdoor posting to his social media pages, and trying to make money on pay per click ads etc. He had resigned from Cash for Gold after being stabbed downtown. But financially he was on shaky times. So naturally as a community minded person, I hate to see trying people struggle. So as is always I would scour my mind for opportunities I may have seen that would be up his alley. But as things are with the state of emergency, the general economy of the community has slowed down, and the more vulnerable in the community suffer for it. Aid, benefits, hand outs, odd jobs, gigs, work, activity… everything is lessened and diminished.
Hence now I am living what I having been warning the government about. The security intervention has slowed the economic life of the community and without the necessary social or socio-economic intervention to offset this labour intensive security operation that seems endless and will only cost the same taxpayers who suffer in the communities, suffer economically and socially. The SOE may have cut crime, but it has also served to exacerbate so many other social pressures. So if I must connect the dots for you. Financial Pressure dot Swizz Bankz dot Breadfruit Tree dot Electrocution dot “Pop dung hospital” CRH dot Amputation dot dot dot dot dot dot… get it!
So now forgive my anger and frustration with government when after months the community has not had a 6-a-Side competition, Swizz Bankz and some progressive minded youth were planning a 6-a-Side competition for August 11, I was helping them make the link with the Paradise CDC, to use the Pond up by Supreme Prep etc. and general event planning. So from within the community there is attempt to resuscitate economic life, yet, the efforts to match us on the part of government is found failing and wanting. Is this not an indictment? Now that tragedy is here, how much help can Swizz Bankz count on from the government?
Swizz Bankz to you in the meantime, here is my advice:
- Cultivate positive friendships
- Stay physically active when you can
- Use humor to lighten the mood (it’s also great medicine)
- Lean on your spirituality
- Practice meditation
- Escape reality through reading or listening audio books
- Pursue a range of interests and hobbies
- Get a pet
While you do that we on the other end at Paradise are trying to gather what meagre funds we can to assist you. This tragedy struck and went straight to the heart of the community, everybody felt it and still feels it trust me. The closest of your friends shed tears youth. Now to the public I would say this in the words of the immortal Tickle Puss “No one of us is stronger than all of us!” So it is in this light I am saying I can’t assist Swizz Bankz alone in the community we have collection going if you live in the vicinity and want to do something, you can drop your donation in the pan at Tash Shop on Paradise Crescent. For the tech savvy who want to pitch in we have a fundrazr account at http://fnd.us/a1Nut7?ref=sh_06AvEe. All and any aid appreciated. Selah!
About the author: Yannick Nesta Pessoa B.A. is Jamaica’s first blogger, a Community Activist and Law Student. Follow Yannick on Twitter at @yahnyk | yannickpessoa@yahoo.com
