rupted us to continue the tour. Before he'd even let us start though, Bro. Ivy
made sure we understood how it was done, and done correctly. His help was
appreciated; we certainly didn't want to ruin any of the beautiful timbers that
our hosts had worked so hard to prepare for cutting and his guidance helped us to avoid even minor mistakes.
Bro. Ivy was so pleased, not just for our wanting to help, but for our
actually being able to do the work passably. We liked being involved in a pro-
duction (hand-made lumber, made without power tools) that would never had occurred to us. The easy availability of cheap lumber in our world made it unnecessary to think about making lumber by any means, let alone our bare
hands. Maybe she's not the mother of all inventions but necessity is truly the
mother of the best ones.
On that day they completed the current cycle of lumber-making. (Enough had
been made to complete framing the two buildings then planned for construct-
ion.) We then accompanied our hosts on a town-trip to get other stuff for the buildings; nails, sheathing (older buildings in the compound were sheathed
with hand-made 1"X12" ship lapp, the two new ones would get 4'X8'X5/8"
exterior plywood, trimmed with 1"X2" pine strips.
Tripping with the Rastas is way fun. Five of us in the bed of the pickup, three
in the cab. They need to communicate with anyone who will listen,so the
speed is low. everyone who will listen is an assumed sinner (aren't we all, anyway?) The bed has raised sides, made of 1/2" pipe, allowing those in back
to ride in a standing position with solid hand-holds, making it appear to those
along the way, that the brothers were addressing them from a kind of moving pulpit. Even if a little slowly, the driver kept rolling. Those who might have
wished to discuss the matter(s) were ignored necessarily; stops were made only for signals, backed-up traffic and flashing red and blue lights in the
rear-view mirrors. (Only three of the latter-most in the eleven days we were in
Jamaica, or, put another way, one police stop for each of the three days our
hosts escorted us off the compound to destinations in Kingston,Spanish Town,
Ocho Rios and some suburbs of those cities.) Our hosts said it wasn't unusual
to be stopped and searched sometimes three times during one round-trip to
Kingston. (the nearest city to the compound) We learned that Jamaica's Chief
Executive at the time (whose name I don't recall)had, by edict, barred the
Jamaican Police from entering onto the Rasta Compound unless they had
given 21 days advance notice. He, apparently was one who accepted cannabis
as the true Rasta Sacrament. When we were there, the police had not yet
given notice of their first intended visit and it wasn't likely that they ever
would;21 days was more than enough time to to completely prepare for such
visit and everybody knew it. At that time, none of the many police stops/
searches had yielded any contraband, either; they didn't carry it with them.
All of the police l saw there were quite polite, even friendly but what they
were doing to innocent Rastas was real harassment; one of the stops l wit-
nessed took more than an hour of our time.
A large majority of the public adores the Rastas. As soon as they realized
that Rastas were in their midst, they acted like they were in the presence of
their favorite celebrities, except for the autograph part. Time after time we found ourselves surrounded by impromptu congregations, hanging on every
word the Rastas had to offer, responding with "amen"s, "right on"s and other
phrases of approval, whenever we were out of the truck and among them. It
made a deep impression on me and I couldn't help but think how a political
party founded by them might be very successful. Fortunately, the idea hasn't
occured to any of them.
It wasn't until l was doing the prep work for this article that l re-visited the
issue of Psalm 121 and the Rasta's interpretation of it, which, simply stated
is: the truly devout do not sleep. Instead they are constantly vigilant and
ready to thwart Satan. As l read that passage now, it's clear that it's The
Lord that won't sleep and who will look out for the people (the Israelites).
There are eight verses in Psalm 121 and looking at it now every one of them
encourages the faithful to count on Him to protect them. When l first met
the Rastas, they recited Psalm 121 when arriving or leaving Gates of Eden.
While I thought never sleeping in order to prove one's devotion is madness,
it never occurred to me that they might have mis-interpreted that Psalm. So
much of what God requires of the faithful to prove their fealty seems so
ridiculous that it's not surprising to learn of what seems another insane demand of a very jealous God. Because of that, l thought it was just another
case of people believing that God really wanted them to live a sleepless Hell.
Now, l think it might have been possible to broach this subject and perhaps even convince them that they got it wrong. lt might have extended the lives
of hundreds of Rastas. Certainly, every Rasta l met during our visit has long
since gone to his reward. Lately (since discovering my mistake) l've been
thinking about returning to the Rasta compound to try to convince the current Rastas that they are in error.
End of Visit with Rastas in Jamaica 6
On that day they completed the current cycle of lumber-making. (Enough had
been made to complete framing the two buildings then planned for construct-
ion.) We then accompanied our hosts on a town-trip to get other stuff for the buildings; nails, sheathing (older buildings in the compound were sheathed
with hand-made 1"X12" ship lapp, the two new ones would get 4'X8'X5/8"
exterior plywood, trimmed with 1"X2" pine strips.
Tripping with the Rastas is way fun. Five of us in the bed of the pickup, three
in the cab. They need to communicate with anyone who will listen,so the
speed is low. everyone who will listen is an assumed sinner (aren't we all, anyway?) The bed has raised sides, made of 1/2" pipe, allowing those in back
to ride in a standing position with solid hand-holds, making it appear to those
along the way, that the brothers were addressing them from a kind of moving pulpit. Even if a little slowly, the driver kept rolling. Those who might have
wished to discuss the matter(s) were ignored necessarily; stops were made only for signals, backed-up traffic and flashing red and blue lights in the
rear-view mirrors. (Only three of the latter-most in the eleven days we were in
Jamaica, or, put another way, one police stop for each of the three days our
hosts escorted us off the compound to destinations in Kingston,Spanish Town,
Ocho Rios and some suburbs of those cities.) Our hosts said it wasn't unusual
to be stopped and searched sometimes three times during one round-trip to
Kingston. (the nearest city to the compound) We learned that Jamaica's Chief
Executive at the time (whose name I don't recall)had, by edict, barred the
Jamaican Police from entering onto the Rasta Compound unless they had
given 21 days advance notice. He, apparently was one who accepted cannabis
as the true Rasta Sacrament. When we were there, the police had not yet
given notice of their first intended visit and it wasn't likely that they ever
would;21 days was more than enough time to to completely prepare for such
visit and everybody knew it. At that time, none of the many police stops/
searches had yielded any contraband, either; they didn't carry it with them.
All of the police l saw there were quite polite, even friendly but what they
were doing to innocent Rastas was real harassment; one of the stops l wit-
nessed took more than an hour of our time.
A large majority of the public adores the Rastas. As soon as they realized
that Rastas were in their midst, they acted like they were in the presence of
their favorite celebrities, except for the autograph part. Time after time we found ourselves surrounded by impromptu congregations, hanging on every
word the Rastas had to offer, responding with "amen"s, "right on"s and other
phrases of approval, whenever we were out of the truck and among them. It
made a deep impression on me and I couldn't help but think how a political
party founded by them might be very successful. Fortunately, the idea hasn't
occured to any of them.
It wasn't until l was doing the prep work for this article that l re-visited the
issue of Psalm 121 and the Rasta's interpretation of it, which, simply stated
is: the truly devout do not sleep. Instead they are constantly vigilant and
ready to thwart Satan. As l read that passage now, it's clear that it's The
Lord that won't sleep and who will look out for the people (the Israelites).
There are eight verses in Psalm 121 and looking at it now every one of them
encourages the faithful to count on Him to protect them. When l first met
the Rastas, they recited Psalm 121 when arriving or leaving Gates of Eden.
While I thought never sleeping in order to prove one's devotion is madness,
it never occurred to me that they might have mis-interpreted that Psalm. So
much of what God requires of the faithful to prove their fealty seems so
ridiculous that it's not surprising to learn of what seems another insane demand of a very jealous God. Because of that, l thought it was just another
case of people believing that God really wanted them to live a sleepless Hell.
Now, l think it might have been possible to broach this subject and perhaps even convince them that they got it wrong. lt might have extended the lives
of hundreds of Rastas. Certainly, every Rasta l met during our visit has long
since gone to his reward. Lately (since discovering my mistake) l've been
thinking about returning to the Rasta compound to try to convince the current Rastas that they are in error.
End of Visit with Rastas in Jamaica 6
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