Deconstructed Proverbs: 'chicken merry hawk deh near'

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that [YOU] may have life, and have it to the full" John 10:10 NIV

 'chicken merry hawk deh near'

I can remember as a child one of the most fun games we would play featured water balloons and my cousin and I were notorious for playing it! How could we not love it? We would be squealing in delight as some balloons after being thrown at each other would burst on contact soaking us from head to toe (chuckle) while others we skillfully managed to dodge as we ran frantically around our backyard. Often my grandma would watch us from her bedroom and almost strategically at the highest point of our play she would suck the very fun out of our frolicking with her seeming words of caution and advice, "chicken merry hawk deh near". UGH!
Older Jamaicans definitely seem to believe this and have maybe even 'proven' it in their lives. I use the word 'proven' with heaviness and a side eye.

Worthy of scrutiny then, are the things we have come to hold on to as truth and have given permission to shape our thoughts, behaviors and indeed our very existence! In fact I am going to suggest that once in awhile we ought to engage in some critical thinking, analyzing the ideas and vantage points we have subscribed to in order to determine whether they are valid, skewed, half truths or even untruths. Come on there are many things that you believed as a child that your adult self scoffs at now. But even more profitable would be an assessment of what you believed two years ago, two months ago, yes even two days ago that you might see whether they add value to your being or suck the very life out of you!

If you could take a poll in this very moment I wonder how many of these wise sayings you would be able to come up with as integral to or affecting in some way your outlook on life? Do they deserve to dictate your thoughts and behaviors? Do they liberate you or enslave you?

Let us deconstruct this age old idea and see what we might learn from it. It will be interesting to hear what your thoughts are on this and how it might have affected or still affects your own life.

Here are a few of my thoughts

The basic image is of a happy thing with potential danger and pain lurking nearby.

I suppose we cannot discard this perception in it's entirety because it does provide an accurate look at life with its polar opposites that are evident on the earth, for example happiness and sorrow, life and death, success and failure and good and evil. The truth is we cannot know what one is without the existence of the other. How do we know what good is if there isn't evil to compare it with?

Nellibell49 on The Old Proverbial Recovery blog defines the proverb featured here as simply,  "every silver lining has its dark cloud. Even in the happiest times one must still be watchful". I can also concede that this proverb truly might allow us to go through life with a sober outlook recognizing that there must be balance in our perspective and even preparation for anything which, in turn, allows us to be resilient as we live out our lives here on earth.

There are some people who seem to have their heads above the clouds at all times and when a low moment or a storm forms they lose their way and their very ability to exist is threatened because they never considered  anything but living on a bed of roses. God assures us that in the midst of our trials He will provide for us a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13) but no way of escape is necessary if there isn't something from which we must escape. So God offers this same perspective telling us that we will deal with undesirable things in our lives and we must be prepared to handle them and even then offers us His divine help!

Now here are my contentions with this proverb

• 'Chicken merry, hawk deh near' seems to teach an expectation of sorrow and pain in times of joy or an anticipation of failure in the midst of success. The chickens that are happy are threatened with danger or the 'dark cloud' hanging over them represented by the hawk capable of taking their very lives. 

• Embedded in the proverb is the idea that one should not expect happiness, joy, success, peace, goodness, love and whatever is desirable and pleasing to last. Okay, though that has some truth because we live in an imperfect world far too many people sabotage themselves, their success and even people around them because they have developed paranoia because of ideas like these that are ingrained in them. Many people exasperate others because they cannot for a moment embrace joy and positivity. You may not be like that but I would say with certainty that you know at least one person like that!

I want to go a step further with this

• The hawk swoops in from on high and the chickens are powerless to its attack. Can we also see how this 'proverb' may speak on our relationship with God. Could we not be likened to chickens and God likened to the hawk? We often hear people say when disaster has struck, "while man a plan God a wipe" and true there is some truth to this but on the surface what an erroneous idea it creates of the relationship between God and man? What a staunch disconnect and a picture of eeriness and fear as though God does not also rejoice in our joys but only waits for the moment to throw an obstacle in our way?!

As we navigate life it is very important that we pay attention to the things that inform our lives and our thinking because those very things have profound impact on our relationship with ourselves, God and others and ultimately defines our journey on the earth.

Let me ask you this: Do 'wise sayings' become so because they are the philosophical products of people's experiences or do they become wise because people ascribe value to them by following them thus allowing them to inform their lives? I suppose whatever the answer we must as with everything else take what is noteworthy and helpful and be sure to discard what may be hurtful and useless so that we do not have a diluted existence when it is our Creator's desire that we push past the barriers erected by us and the world in which we live which seek to cripple our lives, our purpose, our creativity and our dreams and aspirations.

We must be careful then of the things we adopt or adapt to as we live out our lives on the earth.

Do you have other proverbs (not necessarily Jamaican) that you would like to see featured? If you do leave them in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading!

+1. Share. Comment. Subscribe.

Until next time.
EJ
Onward and Live IN Purpose