It is Finished: The Hair Did It!!!

For over eight years I have been tearing my hair out stressed and frustrated working with underprivileged children, many living in appalling conditions, and I have seen very little improvement. I have asked for help in many different ways, but the on-the-ground presence of people needed has not been as forthcoming as I would have liked. But now I understand why. There has been an issue in Jamaica that has caused a nationwide outrage as citizens debate the judgement made by the courts about a child wearing dreadlocks to school which is against the rules of her school. So, while we are in a worldwide pandemic, other countries are debating how to get their children back to school safely, yet we in Jamaica have gotten lost in the locks amidst rising coronavirus cases. We have gotten distracted by an issue which may be on no consequence because we may not even be able to get our children back to school in September. We major in the minors.

I have never seen this level of indignation about our children being molested, raped, hungry or even murdered. Citizens are boiling with emotions incensed at “systemic racism” in our society, citing the bias against a child with dreadlocks. Just to make things clear, after two years, when this issue began, this little girl has been in school all this time with her dreadlocks. Before I go on, I would like to point out that Merriam-Webster defines racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. I scanned through some videos of the school and it seemed that the folks associated with the school are black. I am just going to leave that right there.

I recognize that after all is being said, I could be labelled a tyrant for telling a boy to pull up his sagging pants because underwear is meant to be under the clothes and not to be worn to be intentionally seen. If that is one of my unwritten rules for going out on a field trip, with all that I am seeing now, then folks could easily say I am biased against the child. Any rule or standard of an organization could be said to be against the rights of a person. You may think I am exaggerating, but just stop and take a look at what is going on in our society today. We know that many people are breaking quarantine rules as they come into the country and go wherever they want to and do whatever they like, putting the nation at risk. We like to speak about our rights even when we are wrong. And there are times that we have rights, but it is wisdom not to exercise them.

Don’t we have the right to food and drink? Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?….If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. 1 Corinthians 9:4-6,12

I have been disheartened by this debate as I recognize more and more that we are in an anti-child society. We often use our children as pawns for our own gain in what could be a very harmful game for them. Our actions may not be to intentionally hurt our children, but unfortunately that may be the consequence. They are being exposed to X-rated songs and videos which have a negative impact, but too many of us feel we have the right to listen and watch these in the presence of our children. Some encourage their children to fight and curse to make sure no one messes with them and to do what they have to in order to get ahead, even if it involves breaking rules. We are not training our children in the way they should go. Instead, many of us are causing them to be wayward and Jesus has said, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6) Our country is now drowning in the depths of the sea being bogged down by crime and violence. We may scratch our heads, perplexed as to why our country has the second highest murder rate in the world, but we do not have to look further than our children as many go unloved and are taught to subvert authority.

At this point, I know a shift in direction is in order for me. Time to let down my hair as I wait for my reassignment orders. God is not to be mocked, reaping and sowing is a Biblical principal. If we refuse to break up our fallow ground, we can never sew righteousness, therefore we cannot reap God’s mercy.