Our esteemed Kaieteur News pundit Adam Harris, known for his daily fanciful dissertations, has dealt with some intriguing subjects in his time, but I cannot let Brother Adam’s recent comment on persons wearing “dark glasses” pass unchallenged. Obviously in a lighter vein, he wrote this week: “Was time when only blind people use to wear dark glasses…Then couple people start fuh use de glasses because de sun was too bright fuh dem eye. Then dem beauty queen get into de act fuh de same reason dem scamps, begin to wear dark glasses. Dem ain’t want people see dem eye, but dem want to watch people.
And all dem politicians is scamps.” Brother Adam goes on to emphasise his point about people wearing dark glasses being scamps, and lighter vein or not, since I myself has been known to wear “darkers”, as the Caymanians call them, I rise to dispute the gentleman’s contention.
To begin with, confronted by the matter, it occurs to me that some of the most honest people I have known were confirmed sun glasses’ wearers. The late Rex Nettleford of Jamaica is an example. Lauded for his contributions in tertiary education in the region, Rex was also one of Jamaica’s and the Caribbean’s legendary choreographers, responsible for the creation of the world-renowned National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica.
He was also a highly regarded orator, always ready with some stinging barbs for our former colonial rulers, and Rex was so adroit in these assaults that he would have English persons in the audience laughing at themselves, at least outwardly, on those occasions. In his later years Rex spoke out fearlessly against discrimination wherever he spotted it, and was often a guest speaker at events where government behaviours in the Caribbean were being examined. He called out the miscreants publicly, and despite the trenchant nature of his pronouncements, no one ever had any scandal with which to smear Rex; he was squeaky clean. Mr Nettelford, I hasten to add, was also a “sun shades man”.
Close to Rex’s homeland lived a retired politician in Grand Cayman named Ormond Panton, probably the most honest person I have met in my life, and another “sun-shades man”. Decades before I met him, Mr Ormond had been the leading politician in Cayman, known for his firebrand political speeches, and his ready profanity in social settings. He was an MLA in Cayman’s Legislative Assembly in the 1950s when Benson Greenal, an investor from the UK, was putting up Cayman’s first international hotel on the then undeveloped Seven Mile Beach in an area reached by a single narrow road. In order to widen his usable beach frontage, the developer had made a proposal to the government to move the road about 100 yards inland.
In the book I wrote about his life, Ormond Panton relates: “At the time, the house I was living in was in need of repairs I couldn’t afford – politicians earned no salary in those days. I was ashamed to have people come there; there were holes in the floor and the place was small; it had only two bedrooms and we were a family of seven. I had been told Greenal wanted to see me, and I went to his apartment.
He showed me on a map the route for the road he was proposing and said if I could get government to approve the change, there would be 15,000 pounds in for me. I couldn’t believe it. I told him, ‘Nobody is going to be able to tell my children after I’m dead that anyone bribed me.’ I would have cussed him out, but it was a Sunday, so I just left. I was astounded.” Indeed, when one considers the value of 15,000 pounds in the 1950s, and Panton’s home with holes in the floor, his honesty is itself astounding… and this, Brother Adam, was a sun-shades man.
There are undoubtedly some folks rotten to the core, perhaps even some politicians, whom we see sporting sun-shades, but there are examples to refute the “all are scamps” charge that Adam makes. Besides, speaking for myself in this light-hearted exchange, I became a sun-shades man, not to disguise when I was watching people, but truly only to shut out the glare. Also, unlike the behaviour of the former AG, said by Adam to wear his shades after the sun sets, I don’t wear mine at night.
At least, not so far. If I know Adam Harris he’s going to come back to me shouting that I’m only offering three examples to contend his “sunshades men are scamps” argument, and that I am offering a biased appraisal by citing myself as an example. Perhaps, I’ll have to recruit the former AG to defend me if this matter ever comes before the court; after all, if Adam is correct, the former AG and I may not have much in common, but we are evidently both “sunshades men”.
Finally, while I can’t make a definitive statement to this effect, I strongly believe that Adam Harris is himself an example of an honest man. At least he doesn’t sport the acquisitions of the rich – Lamborghini or Rolls Royce motor cars, Seiko wrist watches, private jets, and movie star liaisons.
It occurs to me though that it might be useful to spend a little time trying to persuade Adam to jettison his “dark shades = scampishness” position. After all, Mr Harris, Clint Eastwood wears them, and you know the “Make my day” man is on the level. In fact, maybe I can even persuade Adam to start wearing some “darkers”, himself – it definitely helps with the glare, my friend, whether from the sun or other shiny objects. Give me some time; I am working on the gentleman.
