Garth Rattray | A not so merry Christmas this year

The traditional “Merry Christmas” will not be so for many this year.

Their reality has been upended; they lost all that they held dear.

Roofs, and homes, possessions, and lives were all taken away,

Property and livelihood were lost in less than one day.

The usual lush vegetation is replaced by dead trees stripped bare,

Wading in pools of stagnant water, no one should dare,

Festering, fermenting, dangerous organisms now abound,

Deadly diseases in communities are being frequently found.

From an innocuous tropical disturbance near West Africa’s coast,

She grew into a tropical depression, still ignored by most.

She strengthened into a tropical storm, Melissa was her name,

Intensified into a powerful hurricane, destined for fame.

Global warming was the cause of Melissa’s unprecedented rage,

We are all paying a high price for living in this modern age.

Our accustomed human activities are coming home to roost.

The greenhouse gasses we produce give global temperatures a boost.

Burnt fossil fuels, deforestation, industrialisation, agricultural activities too

Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinate gases aren’t few.

They act just like a blanket that doesn’t allow heat to escape into space,

The trapped heat warms the planet and now threatens the human race.

Recently the Caribbean Sea is usually very warm late October every year,

It’s around 28 to 29 degrees centigrade, but we don’t really care.

Because of global warming this year the sea was much hotter than before

In some areas it was 32 to 33 degrees centigrade for sure.

The hot ocean was the engine that Melissa needed to grow,

And that she did far more than anyone could ever know.

She slowly crawled below us and then there she would waver,

The heat, the winds, the atmospheric pressure, were all in her favour.

We hoped that she would turn away and spare us from destruction,

But she resumed her trek, crept to the west without any compunction.

And when we thought that she might pass very near but just below us,

She turned northward and hammered us; her landfall was tempestuous.

She shrieked and howled as she spun at speeds never before recorded,

She shredded, and stripped, and tore apart, no chance were we afforded.

She lay waste to forests and roads and buildings that mankind put in place,

And even for those who weren’t in her path, for the worst we had to brace.

I recall vividly when Melissa passed below Kingston where I reside,

I almost said “thank God” but then my relief did quickly subside.

Although many of us were safe from harm, for others it was not so,

Others would experience wind destruction and flood waters would flow.

Many fellow citizens were left with nothing, deprived of all that they had,

No water, no food, no shelter overhead, few clothes in which to be clad.

With nothing to buy and nothing to sell, daily survival was all that’s left.

Their pride, their joy, the things that they cherished, of all they were bereft.

That category 5 hurricane gave us a promise of things we can expect,

A future of numerous weather phenomena, powerful and unchecked.

We’d better learn to build back stronger and more resilient without fail,

We must prepare to face all of nature’s fury and avoid a sorrowful tale.

In the meantime, our people will need all the charity that we can give.

This is no time to be selfish, share all you can, it’s now live and let live.

The one love of which we often boast can now be on full display,

This is our chance to make others happy and brighten their day.

The usual controversies hover around goods that have been gifted,

Who gets what from whom, the never-ending blaming is always shifted.

Orange and green produce a brown haze that disturbs the senses,

Would that we could all live together and dismantle all political fences.

Utility companies struggle against the deadlines that were announced,

Usable poles, wires, pipes, and other equipment simply can’t be found.

And strangely, some weird people pilfer and sabotage any night or day,

Perhaps without electricity and water they want others to stay.

It’ll take trillions of dollars and years of hard work to get back to normality,

We need governmental planning, implementation, oversight and frugality.

There’s no place for selfishness, and rapaciousness in our nation’s healing,

We must do what we can to stop the pain from which so many are reeling.

And worst of all, this tragedy occurred very close to the Christmas season,

We can’t predict events, sometimes they occur without rhyme or reason.

Life has taught me that anything can happen to anybody, any day,

For strength and faith, for forgiveness and love, we must always pray.

The good Book says that faith without works is of little use, this you’ll find,

If we can’t be magnanimous, the very least that we can do is to be kind.

Remember the widow’s mite, it’s the thought that counts you see,

Good deeds like a caring smile, emotional support and kind words are free.

Some celebrate Christmas knowing that it piggybacked on a pagan festival,

It was about the gift to the world, then it became inconsequential.

The piggyback was hijacked by commercialisation at its very best,

This year let’s remember the needy, and with our kindness be blessed.

Garth Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice, and author of ‘The Long and Short of Thick and Thin’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com