Guava season good too!

There is no room for an attitude of collective self-pity, unproductive resignation that can lead to despair, or for the easy blame-game that divorces us from responsibility and from a call to action. In fact, this “guava season” may be a blessing in disguise if we recognise it as such and grab the possibilities that if offers. This may be our long-needed opportunity to examine our lifestyles and our values.

It may be the beginning of a new era of creativity, innovativeness and productivity.

It may be our chance to become a healthier people, physically, emotionally and spiritually. This can signal a turning-point when, as a nation, we become more self-reliant, using our God-given talents to develop ourselves according to our own aspirations and not those which we have come to believe we should fulfill.

John’s Gospel today tells us that Mary called upon her son to transform a potentially embarrassing situation, into one which would enhance the joy of wedding celebration and save the dignity and the good name of the families of the newlyweds.

Jesus used the resources at his disposal – the ordinary, unexceptional ceremonial washing jars of the family and the water drawn, as per custom, by the servants – to provide a solution to the families’ dilemma. Surely God has provided us, too, with the resources that we need to change our unhealthy dependencies on products and services, foods and habits that may have been detrimental to us even if we chose not to acknowledge this.

A return to backyard gardening can well reduce a family’s food bill and help to conserve some of our dwindling foreign reserves. It will provide us with healthy complex carbohydrates, nutrient-rich fresh herbs of healthful vegetables and fruits that will reduce the incidence of many of the lifestyle diseases that now plague us.

Such “new” occupations may also help to stave off the ill effects of redundancy or layoff on a wage earner who must continue to strive to provide, even in part, for his or her family.

Our inability to indulge freely in expensive consumer goods, including non-essential technology, will also be to our benefit. We have allowed the magnetic draw of the Internet, video games and the “smart” technology to “cocoon” us from our families and others around us.

While we benefit from the technological advances of our day, we need to establish a balance in our lives between these tools — these things — and the people who make up our families, our friends, our neighbours and our colleagues.

First Lady Mrs Reema Carmona has echoed the call by a growing number of the mas’ fraternity for the production of Trinidad Carnival costumes by local craftsman instead of by large foreign factories.

Employment opportunities and more imaginative and better-fitting costumes should follow as a result.

Let us use austerity to turn our guavas into wine!