16085: Raber: Re: 16084: Senou: Haiti: Summer 2001 and Summer 2003 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: P&M Raber <raber@valkyrie.net>

Joseph Alfred writes a very interesting article on the situation in Haiti.
The excerpt below about a compromise being in the interest of the Haitian
leaders made me think of a Haitian joke I heard as a child.  I don't know if
Haitians made it up but I have never heard it anywhere else but in Haiti.  I
am sure some will not consider it a joke and will take offense to it.  This
joke shows how the Haitian pride and the desire to get even gets in the way
even if there are rewards and/or consequences. It also shows some great
creativity in manipulating the rules.  Anyhow, here is the story:

God appears to an American, a French guy and a Haitian and offers them
whatever they want with one small catch:  their worst enemy will receive
double.  The American immediately asks for a couple of vacation homes, a
private jet, a nice boat and a few million dollars to enjoy it all.  The
French guy asks for a Chateau in the country, a beautiful companion, a
cellar full of expensive wine, and a few milliards Francs (I guess now it
would be Euros) to enjoy it all.  The Haitian cannot think of what to ask
for despite repeated weekly probings by God.  God finally gives him a 3-day
deadline to make up his mind.  The Haitian man spends the next tree days and
night hardly sleeping and tossing and turning trying to figure out what to
ask for.  The morning of the final deadline God appears and ask him for what
he wants.  He answers "Pete yon grenn je mwen" or "Make me blind in one
eye".

> It would be in the interest of the Haitian leaders to
> enter into a compromise before September.  At this
> present moment, they have received a warning, which
> would be followed with a deadline and my friends there
> would be consequences.  We are falling in a trap; all
> these are to prevent Haiti from celebrating
> peacefully, its bicentennial anniversary. We will go
> into history as the only country that has not
> capitalized in its bicentennial independence. Hard to
> believe and time is running out and this is one of the
> reasons HCR in Atlanta did not celebrate May 18, 2003.
> For me, personally, it is not just chilling out and
> having fun.  It has to be a commitment for Haitians to
> understand their role in this world and take things
> seriously.
>

Joseph Alfred
>
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