Late-Night Easter Sunday Event Raises Concerns in the Community

One of the ways that we learn is by repetition and the constant playing of negative songs is actually teaching the listeners to behave and think in a negative way, whether we realise it or not. Many children’s events no longer cater to the children; at least not based on the types of songs I hear being played at them. I was told the children want these songs, but children eat what we feed them – literally and figuratively – and they become what they consume.

My little island seems to be slipping down a slippery slope of no return and since we have not put brakes on things, we’re now waking up to ask: “What is happening in Barbados?” But there was a time when fetes were not held on Sundays, when women jumping at Kadooment did not wear costumes that left little to the imagination, when children weren’t asked by parents if they wanted to attend Sunday School, and when education was important to families.

Ours, however, has slowly but steadily become a materialistic, hedonistic culture where, as if taking a cue from the Pied Piper of Hamelin, adults are leading the charge with music, but with loud, filthy music blaring from their cars, from the minivans and from these open-air fetes. This is accompanied by a decided emphasis on money over morals and loose lifestyles over decorum. Little girls without daddies in the home are running to men who groom them for sex rather than mentor them correctly and put them on the path to being whole and fulfilled adults. A look at some of the videos circulating where adult male entertainers are encouraging scantily clad young girls to come onstage and express themselves in the most vulgar ways possible is a call for stop, not even pause. Little boys without dads to guide them are turning to the block culture and gangs, and some parents themselves are clueless as to how to parent.

Some seem intent on remaining clueless, and partying seems to be more important to a lot of them.

As I listened to the DJ on Easter Sunday morning complimenting a woman for her gyrating, I couldn’t help but think: we need these men who are the promoters and DJs of these loud fetes to serve in our churches, to lead our Boy Scouts, to make a positive difference in our society. We need these women who are “skinning out” at these fetes to be leaders in our churches, to nurture our children and to also make positive differences in our society. If we go to church by day (or not and all) and fete with unbridled abandon at all hours of the day, what message are we sending, what seeds are we sowing? We can’t tell our children to behave and then be “skinning out” at fetes and events like Kadooment. What licence do we have to correct the children on whom we then look with reproach when they copy us and then do ten times worse?

We the adults, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, are leading our children astray. We are not giving them the correct artillery to fight life’s battles. In too many instances, it has either come down to having a good time, money in the promoters’ pockets and living for the next high, or it has come down to just shaking our heads and grumbling if we don’t like what we see happening. If we recall the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the parents never saw their children again, as the Pied Piper led them all away with his music. Is this what we want for our precious youth?

Zoanne Evans