By:Curtis Morton
The way I see it, SEPTEMBER is the best month of the year..
There! I have said it and I know that I may have raised an eternal ants’ nest and may have just triggered off world war three!
Okay, so I know that I have a hard case to sell, especially after Miss Irma and Miss Maria had to come to try to spoil it! Then someone even reminded me that Mr. Hugo, going all the way back to ’89, was also a September horror-17th to be exact.
Why could not they have chosen October-or even July-or August?
Still, I insist that September is indeed the best month of the year-or better put by one of our late Taxi drivers: the BESEST!
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I will just take time out now to give you ten reasons why SEPTEMBER is the best month of the year:
1. Even the draftsmen and women of our independence thought so. The only month they could have chosen for the significant event, 34 years ago, was SEPTEMBER
2. It is that month of the year that reminds people that ‘Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat.’ This is the month that most people start preparing in earnest for Christmas and some even start playing Christmas carols
3. It is the month that signals the start of the school year. Overseas examinations would have been completed and the results would have been heralded far and wide and school children begin the term with their new shoes, clothes and bags and are able to tell of the splendid vacation just completed, especially for those who had the opportunity to travel. It was a September and incidentally the first day of school and my fifth form English teacher at CSS at the time, Mr. Hanzel Manners, decided to ask us to speak about our vacation. Most of us boys spoke about picking mangoes, roasting cherry seeds, catching doves in homemade traps and the like. The girls on the other hand, spoke of such boring, mundane things, as getting their hair styled, getting new dresses and bags etc and travel overseas. But John, John had to be different. When asked about his vacation, John blurted out: ‘My parents took me to Canada and my vacation was DREAD!’ There was a double emphasis on the word DREAD! We all laughed out loud. John’s response was different. Now, that was the in slang word at the time but John did not cater for Mr. Manners’ next question. He was obviously not as impressed as we were. ‘What does DREAD mean?’ I never knew John to stammer but he stammered that day. Eventually getting red and flush in the face, he managed: ‘DREAD means great!’ We all laughed again but this time we were laughing at his response and discomfort.
4. It is the month chosen by the powers that be, in the federation of St.Kitts and Nevis, for the observance of National Heroes’ day.
5. September marks the beginning of autumn in the Northern hemisphere and the start of spring in the Southern hemisphere
6. September is the only month with the same number of letters in its name as the number of the month: it is the ninth month and has nine letters
7. Groucho Marx once said: “My favourite poem is the one that starts ‘Thirty days hath September’ because it actually tells you something.”
8. September has three birth flowers: the forget-me-not, the morning glory and the aster. Forget-me-nots represent love and memories, asters represent love as well, and the morning glory represents unrequited love. These are all very passionate flowers.
9. September 1st, 1830: The poem “Mary had a Little Lamb” was published.
10. I think you guessed the 10th and most significant reason why September is the best month of the year. It’s my birth month—duh….
Well I newa!
So, the naysayers may be highlighting the fact that Hugo passed in September; Irma passed in September and now Maria, but guess what?
Can’t we say then on the positive side, that September is the month in 2017 that God extended his mercies us ward and miraculously saved us from two killer storms, while other islands were devastated?
So, SEPTEMBER is a mighty important month after all. The best one in the entire year.
I rest my case.
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?