Dear Wayne,
As you enter day 26 of your historic and noble fast, your neighbours and fellow residents of La Florissante, D'Abadie, and environs for over 30 years, would just like to publicly let you know that we love and care about you dearly.
We know that it is futile to try to dissuade from your mission because we have known you long enough to know that no one on this earthly plain (not even your family) can sway your unwavering resolve. But as we all learnt in Strategic Planning 101, that while sometimes a threat can also be an opportunity in disguise, so too one's strength can also be a source of one's weakness.
We are painfully reminded that this is not your first but your second hunger strike and given the equally intractable position of the other side on this occasion, we hope and pray that this uncanny alignment of events does not turn out to be some sort of unwitting rendezvous with destiny.
We readily admit that we might not all totally agree with or fully understand your cause or even your methodology. However, it is without reservation that we all respect and admire your passion, determination, courage and sincerity.
We must also confess that those of us who have not yet visited your humble camp outside of the Prime Minister's office, it is not because we cannot be bothered or that we are not interested. But many of us just don't have the inner strength or belly to stand idly by and watch such a healthy and talented human being like yourself literally waste away.
Nonetheless, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this time. We also wish to assure you that as good neighbours, we will never stop being here for you for as long as it takes, particularly at this, your darkest hour and time of need.We also express the hope that good sense will prevail on both sides and this ongoing Highway Re-route Movement saga will have a "happy ending" even though realistically this seems unlikely at this time.
Finally, we encourage those persons in the wider national community, who may have never met you but have been gratuitously mean and judgmental regarding your motives and actions, to take timeout (not for your sake but for their own) to reflect upon the divinely inspired words of the late 19th Century missionary, Stephen Grellet who wrote:"I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."
Peter Permell
Via e-mail