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No one is entitled to bun and cheese
March 30, 2016
Easter is now over and done. So, how was it for you? Yeah, it may sound cheesy, but I have to also ask you this. Did you actually give or receive any bun? And, was it delicious fun? Me, I personally gave out no bun, and between me and you, I also got back none. As I shared with the peeps in my network on Facebook and Twitter last week, Easter is the only time of year that the average Jamaican woman will happily accept bun from a cheesy man without complaining. Nuh true? Easter is also the only time a Jamaican man will willingly take bun from his lady without any violent repercussion. I know that as a fact because it is the only time my dear wife ever gives me bun.
On a serious note though, some of our people seem to have a serious sense of entitlement when it comes to Easter bun and cheese. In fact, it could be argued that we have an over-active sense of entitlement about everything. Like the man who accosted me as I walked out of a Western Union Money Transfer outlet in Kingston on Saturday, not asking, but literally demanding that I help him out by sharing some of the money that I just received.
Well, look here, nuh. It wasn't his business, but since he wouldn't let up, I patiently explained to him that I actually went to send off money. First up, the man had a hard time accepting that, contrary to common assumptions, not everybody who goes into a money transfer store goes in there to collect easy money from foreign. And then, he had an even harder time accepting that I had absolutely no intention to hand over any money to him. But he begged on relentlessly, informing me that it is Easter time now and he has a little daughter, so he needs about $1,000 to buy bun and cheese for her.
LIGHT MOMENT
Hear mi nuh friends. I buss a big dutty laugh because I figure that he may have recognised me as a comedian and just wanted to share a light moment. But the man was dead serious. He pointed out that I'm dissing him by taking it for a laughing matter, and then he suggested that I meet him half-way by giving him $500 and he will find the rest. That's when I got serious, and told him where to jump off. One man can bright so? But maybe it's not his fault. That sense of entitlement to Easter buns apparently runs deep.
According to a story by Shanice Watson in yesterday's STAR, several members of parliament across the island admitted that they spent between $100,000 and $300,000 to buy bun and cheese for members of their respective constituencies.
Kill mi if unnu want, but I think that is a senseless way to spend money. What you think? Thankfully, not all politicians seem willing to give this practice wholesale and unconditional support. To their credit, North West St Ann MP Dayton Campbell and Central Clarendon MP Mike Henry, even though they sit on different sides of the political divide, both shared the view that there are bigger areas of priority for expenditure than bun and cheese. Good fi dem! I only hope people don't get vex and bun dem out!
