Every January 1, we welcome in the new year with the same wish of a happy and prosperous new year! We make resolutions which will never be kept, but we generally become optimistic, at least as the year is ushering itself in. Usually we are thankful, except for those who see no future in their future, because of poverty or illnesses or incarceration or just plain despair! Then, after the parties, after the feelings of goodwill for one another subside, we return to the grind of daily living, trying to survive. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and life goes on in that monotonous tone, which is usually colorless and unyielding! Wait! Stop! Life is good; we are alive and kicking, and as long as there’s life, there’s hope. Cho bwai, stop u nonsense; life haad, especially fi cruffy! That little voice in your head can be very confusing, very contrarian at times.

Seriously though, I think we have to give 2023 a chance. It’s up to us to have and feel the wherewithal to make life better, in spite of all the challenges we will face. No one skates through life unaffected by trials and tribulations — no one! If you are rich, you have to worry about who will fleece you of what you have, although not necessarily earned. If you are poor and destitute, well then, you just have to figure out a way to survive, without being taken advantage of, or going to jail! It is a catch-22 situation!

Always the optimist, I tend to look on the brighter side of things. The minimum wage is up to five dollars an hour! Now you can buy butter to put on your bread — yay! That five dollars an hour gives new meaning to bringing home the bacon. How does a family of four, with one parent working, live on that? The Chamber of Commerce, as insensitive as ever to the plight of the working class, and the poor, opposes this increase. Why? Because? I don’t know why. Maybe because it is that we are the meanest of all the creatures on earth, we have stopped looking out for those left behind, and are only interested in our own special interests. Man, dis dah craziness. People have to eat and wear clothes and send their kids to school and buy a little treat now again! Maybe $7.50 an hour?

I suppose it will have to be up to those who hire, who supply jobs, to be more understanding of the plight of their slaves, I mean, employees. I know that times are hard, but have a little conscience, a little empathy! Don’t forget that you get what you pay for, no more, no less! I know that this all sounds altruistic, but damn, brother, can you spare a dime?

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”— Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

Glen