In me more woes than words

Are now depending;

And my laments would be drawn out too long,

To tell them all with one poor tired tongue.— Shakespeare,

The Rape of Lucrece, Stanza 231 

More woes than words, laments that are drawn out too long, worries and crosses that would fill a hundred books. That wretched person seems to be really having a bad day. Some people suffer and appear to be always burdened by the yoke of bad luck, leading one singer to pen, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.”Jamaicans have another word for it — salt. I don’t know what the origin is, but salt is ascribed to someone who has bad luck, is jinxed, has ill workings foisted on him. “Boy that man is so salt, everything bad happen to him.” Call it what you will — salt, bad luck, jinx, cursed — it’s not a pleasant state to be in.There are those who fervently believe that not only individuals, but entire families can be cursed, as they seem to suffer from maladies for generations. “His father was salt, him grandfather was salt, him great grandfather was salt. The entire generation have crosses follow them.”I’m sure that you may have heard people say of some families, “They have the Generation Curse, destined to suffer forever.”We’ll see who is cursed and if curses really exist, right after these responses to my catty piece on ‘Fraid like puss’. 

Hi Tony,When I was much younger, I admit I feared appearing to be afraid and would always try to put on a brave face in most situations. I overcame the fear of public speaking by doing it more often. As I grew older, wiser and more confident, I feared seriously harming or possibly killing someone in a physical confrontation as I wasn’t skilled enough to defend myself otherwise. My real fears however, are of ancient creatures, snakes, crocodiles, sharks, lizards and cockroaches.

Gordon 

Hey Tony,Regarding your footnote on banking fees, this 35 days to clear a cheque is unbelievable. I was away in London two weeks ago and tried to send money to my account from an account in London and was told the amount was too much for them to handle. I came back to Jamaica and paid an English cheque into my account, only to be told that it would take 35 days to clear in England. Are we that far behind with our banking system in this time of high tech?

Henry  A few weeks ago, I was in a conversation with a lady friend of mine who happens to be a medical doctor. We were talking about the misfortune of a mutual friend who seemed to be having a never ending run of bad luck. Her response was, “He must try and break the cycle of the curse that’s befallen his family.”Many people do believe that curses exist, and that they have to find ways to break that stranglehold that makes their lives miserable. Science may not be able to put a handle on it, but there are many folks who are convinced, with good reason, that curses do exist. You will hear them wail, “Oh Lord, take this curse away from me, I beg you.”In ancient times there were tales of witches reciting incantations and ancient runes that would turn people into pigs, rats or farm animals. There were fairy tales of frogs that could be turned back into princes, only if a pretty maiden kissed them. “A wicked witch turned me into a frog and only a kiss from you will restore me to my original form.”Not only do these curses afflict the hapless souls, but their entire generation would be stricken by the hex from that witch. “I curse you and all your descendants for eternity.” No wonder witches were feared, avoided, hunted down and burned at the stake. Hence the term witch-hunt. Salem in the USA was made famous for its relentless pursuit and burning of witches.It’s not only witches who curse, as legends abound of curses that were imposed by pharaohs of Egypt. There has been documentation of people being cursed because they disturbed the tombs of long dead pharaohs. “Do not disturb the pyramid of the mighty King Tut, or great harm will descend on you and your family like a plague.” Myth, malarkey or mirth? Dare you test it?Then there is the saying that people can put a malediction, execration, imprecation or commination on you, which would curse you forever. Of course, for every curse there is an antidote, and if deemed necessary, a sum of cash could be paid over to remove that hex.Here we have obeah, which is still illegal to practice, necromancy, modda woman, reader woman and other practitioners of the occult who can not only read the future but inflict curses on others as well. Even now they are feared. “Who do you want me to put a curse on, my dear, that woman who stole your man from you?”But belief kills and belief cures, and the fact is, some people do appear to be cursed all their lives. Many times when someone is afflicted with an ailment that medical science cannot diagnose, the whisperings are that he or she is cursed. “Science reach him. You see how is pure crosses tek him since him fire that man from the job.”What is true is that there are people who do seem to be cursed, and no matter what they touch or any endeavour that they embark on, it’s doomed to failure. They will try this and try that, juggle all sorts of enterprises, with the same painful result — failure.There have been documented cases of families that suffer misfortune after misfortune for decades. Usually there is an eerie similarity that haunts them, such as the firstborn child suffering some horrible tragedy.Every generation has the firstborn son dying early, giving rise to the term, family curse. It is said that a famous political family in the USA is cursed, as they were beset with assassinations, amputations, accidental deaths, small plane crashes, imprisonment and other misfortunes that seem inordinate in proportion.“How come one family have so much crosses come down pon dem, nuh must curse dem curse?”“One family cyan salt suh, is muss curse deh pon dem.”It’s difficult to argue against this, for the facts are very real, and documented. I remember this guy who woke up one morning with one leg distinctly shorter than the other. No doctor could diagnose the problem and he walked with a limp, or drop leg as we say here, forever. It was said that he was cursed.I also know people who have an equipment curse. As farfetched as it may seem, I have seen it over the years. No matter what car they touch, brand new or second hand, new TV, fridge, camera, as soon as they lay their hands on the device, it breaks down.I have seen it too often to doubt its veracity. So much so that there are people I would not lend my vehicle to, or fly on an aircraft with. Dem too salt. Everything they touch, mash up.Some women are destined never to have children, making others cruelly and snidely say that they are cursed. Others bring forth children that are a curse to humanity. Then there are women who are cursed never to have a man, in spite of them being blessed with great beauty.“How come she so pretty and can’t keep a man?”“She cursed, handed down from her mother.”I knew this very beautiful lady who lost three husbands tragically. Was that enormously bad luck, or a death curse? Even in the

Bible there are tales of entire societies being cursed. Some were afflicted with plagues, diseases, famines, floods, pestilence, cursed to wonder the wilderness for decades.On the flip side, some individuals are blessed, along with their families. So it should follow that if you can be blessed, then you can also be cursed.Some men are cursed to always end up with horrible women, no matter how hard they try, they always pair up with a wicked witch. “Man, him salt, him pick up tack. The woman-curse following him down from him father.”But can those curses be broken, or are victims destined to live out their days under the yoke of the hex, and worse, pass it down to their descendants?Just make sure that you don’t mess with the wrong person, for if he or she sprinkles powder on you, waves a fowl feather in your face, throws a bullfrog through your window and recite words in an ancient language, run like a bat out of hell, for come hell or high water, you’ll be cursed.More time.

seido1@hotmail.com 

Footnote: I saw a feature recently that addressed the problem of Internet addiction. This has afflicted millions of young and not so young people worldwide and also right here in Jamaica. The worst thing that can happen to a youngster and even older person nowadays is a loss of WiFi. It’s as if they have lost their grasp on reality and spend their entire waking hours glued to an instrument. No longer do they talk to each other, visit, unless it’s via the Internet. It’s like living in the Twilight Zone. It has reached epidemic proportions in the USA where therapy is now being sought for countless people and is now classified as digital addiction. Some people here are afflicted too.