Christmas is a time when billions of people around the world traditionally celebrate the birth of our lord and saviour, Jesus Christ. It serves as a period of reflection and celebration of the concept of goodwill. Also, like the Hindu Festival of Phagwah, it is a season that fosters unity, tolerance and cohesion amongst people from very different walks of life, religious inclinations, racial and political backgrounds, and social groupings.
Traditionally, the birth of Jesus marks a crucial point in the history of the doctrine of Christianity. This is so, because Jesus is considered as the Messiah, deliverer and saviour of all mankind. His role would eventually turn out to be the most important in the entire Christian faith as he died so that all humans who believe in him could have eternal life.
It is a time to be merry and charitable as well as considerate of the poor who may not possess the necessary resources and abilities to join in all of the festivities which could be financially taxing depending how you define your “merry Christmas”.
That aside, Christmas over the years has taken on a lot of symbolism that has seen it straying away from the underlying principles outlined above which led to its prominence. This is where Santa Claus, his reindeers, the North Pole and the Elves come in. Together, they encourage young people to aspire to higher levels of morality, ethics and acceptable behavioural patterns for which they would eventually be rewarded with gifts. In order to receive any rewards, Santa would keep check on people all year round to ascertain whether they were naughty or nice. He made a list based upon their deeds and the manner in which they treated others in their communities.
If I were Santa, there would be a list of persons who would not be receiving gifts locally, regionally and internationally. And of course, there are a number of people that would feature prominently on my ‘nice’ list because of the amount of goodwill, cheer and positive energy they produced by doing things. In the interest of space and time, I will reveal the top six persons who feature on both lists along with some honourable mentions.
Freedie Kissoon would feature at the top of my naughty list because this year he became more infamous as a result of the publication of unbelievable lies, distortions, half-truths, skewed political/philosophical ramblings and divisive journalistic articles. He thought he would rid himself of the stench which emanated from the faeces that was thrown on him years ago: maybe he should think again. President David Granger would feature next for his role in upholding corruption, the breach of Guyana’s tender and procurement laws and the breach of the Constitution. Basil Williams comes in third for failing to win a series of straight forward and non-complex cases and being a sore loser. Winston Jordan for the piloting a new school of “Jumbie and LaLa Economics” which lambasted the populace. Raphael Trotman is tied with Jordan for deliberately lying and hiding the US$20 million ExxonMobil bonus. And crowning off the top six would be Nicolette Henry for trying to do a doctorate without completing nursery school where she could have learnt the difference between Phagwah, Diwali, Chatree and her role as a sensible Minister of Government. Other honourable mentions include Royston King, Moses Nagamotoo, Chandradass Sohan, Simona Broomes, Dr Barton Scotland and Cohen Jackson.
The Nice list would include Juan Edghill for standing up to be out of order for his rights; Joseph Harmon for staying out of a lot of trouble by hiding in MOTP; WR Reaz for starting to sign his own tunes; Charmaine Blackman for keeping all of her assets in place; Ruel Johnson for proving that he is indeed a rubberstamp; Bharrat Jagdeo for maintaining his composure and not deliberately cussing anybody wrongfully this year; Amna Ally for ensuring that she sleeps well in Parliament to wake up to go to work early each morning; Saieed Khalil for his social media activism and useful perspectives. Honourable mentions include Priya Manickchand, David Ramnarine, Anil Nandlall, and the people of Guyana for keeping their composure even in the midst of deceit and abuse from the political elites in our society.
Merry Christmas everyone…
