At the ripe old age of 53, I have come to a few conclusions. I suspect, too, that before I come to the Great Conclusion, I will learn one or two more lessons. But, for now, believe me when I tell you that life is strange and so, too, is love. This truth is witnessed and evidenced by the comedies and tragedies which befall men and women when they search for and find love in all the wrong places. Take the sad, sad case of Wayde Alvin Archer and Joyous Sweeting-Williams. This man and this woman found love in all the wrong places. One is dead and the other has been condemned to the same fate. Today, I speak of Life, Death And Love. What a trilogy! What a brew!
Incidentally, my friend and brother Charles Fawkes is convinced that my focus in these rough cut pieces of writing is maniacally trained on death. He intimates, too, that this purported fascination gives him the creeps.
Well, if the truth be told to Charlie and anyone else who would take the time to read between the lines, my unrelenting focus is on Death’s opposite, namely this wonderful life. And, too, if Charlie were to take the time to get the message, he would see that I am always saddened – sometimes beyond words – when a mother or father, sister or brother, a friend or neighbour is lost in the whirlwind and when Life’s sweet promise is aborted. So, Charlie, this one today is for you.
As I reflected on the new information coming my way, a sad story concerning the relationship between a man and a woman caught my attention. It involved the end of a love affair between two Bahamians. The man is Wayde Alvin Archer and the woman was Joyous Sweeting-Williams.
Six men and six women – sitting as jurors in a court in Freeport, Grand Bahama – after hearing the facts reached the conclusion that Wayde Alvin Archer was guilty of the murder of his lover. She, incidentally, was someone else’s wife.
Information reaching the court, reports that Joyous was killed on October 10, 2000. Again, according to the report given the jurors, the killing of this woman was particularly gruesome. She was shot through the head with a spear. Counsel for Mr. Archer say that they will appeal the conviction and the sentence.
What is interesting about this case and any number of others is that the public has become so incensed and enraged and fearful that its own blood-lust has been whipped up to such an extent that the vengeance cry is being bellowed nation wide. Sadly and regrettably, the loudest voices calling for blood are those of our beloved Prime Minister and his deputy Cynthia “Mother” Pratt. While I am certain that they are motivated by the best of intensions, they need to recognize the reality that when the ethic is blood for blood, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, more blood will be shed and more teeth will be plucked than even the bloodiest laws should allow.
Think about the sad, sad case of Wayde Alvin Archer and Joyous Sweeting-Williams. One is dead and the other has been sentenced to death. Again, according to newspaper reports, Archer’s relatives were flooded in tears at the announcement of his fate. On the other end of this tragically bloody spectrum, the relatives of Joyous Sweeting-Williams left the same courtroom elated with the outcome of the trial, to the point where – in gratitude to God – they thanked the jury as they left the courtroom around 6:30 p.m. last night.
Neither side seems to get it.
The cold, hard fact of the matter is that no amount of tears or vengeance blood can bring Joyous back to life. She was sent into eternity, courtesy a man with whom she had once shared her heart and soul.
No amount of blood vengeance can restore this woman to the arms of the man to whom she was married and the two boys she bore. Having decided that she would take her chances in a love triangle, she paid the highest price. Obviously persuaded that he could not abide the pain of such a geometrical configuration, Wayde Alvin Archer did what he did. Boy oh boy, love is strange!
My question today is this: if the Government of The Bahamas – acting on behalf of the people of The Bahamas – gets away with killing Wayde Alvin Archer, would The Bahamas be a better place? I ask this rhetorical question merely to put it to the beloved Prime Minister the Hon. Perry G. Christie and Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. Cynthia “Mother” Pratt that, in my humble opinion, they are in serious error when they use their high offices to trumpet vengeance and blood-lust retaliation.
Rough Cut, The Bahama Journal
