By Michael A. Dingwall

While I was prepared to ignore this new school prank about a demon named Charlie who is supposed to communicate by moving pencils as a joke, I was taken a little bit by surprise to hear the permanent secretary in the Jamaica’s Education Ministry and the ministry itself warning people to stay away from this “demon” act and to pray for protection. Are we for real here?

In this prank, one pencil is placed strategically on another and the demon Charlie is supposed to move them. I have seen this on television and immediately, the way the pencils are placed will guarantee some movement – even without Charlie. Indeed, I know some teachers who tried it. They simply placed two pencils strategically and without invoking Charlie, they moved.

Anyway, enough about this child’s game, what I am really concerned about is the reaction of the education ministry and that interview with its permanent secretary.

First of all, I really do think that a golden opportunity is being missed here. Our children haven’t been doing very well in the sciences. Why don’t we use this “Charlie demon game” to make physics and other science subjects more interesting? We could demonstrate and explain to these “science-phobic” students how the forces of gravity moved those pencils. I think this would be a much better way of squashing this “Charlie demon” craze than urging prayer.

Talking about prayer, that interview with the permanent secretary that was aired during primetime news was really unbelievable. I wonder if the permanent secretary really believed that any amount of prayer can stop the power of gravity, which is what is really moving those pencils?

I distinctly remember the dear secretary trying to imply on the news, whether purposely or not, that demon possession can be a likely result of this Charlie demon game and that her own “personal experiences” as a devout Christian attested to that. Why is the ministry fueling this Charlie demon myth?

“Demon possession” is not that strange in Jamaica, you know. Indeed, they happen all the time. I can even guarantee them – mostly on weekends. Just watch the typical weekend church service and we are sure to see a lot of it. I can tell you, even though I am an atheist, I do look forward to these church services with their “holy ghost power” every Sunday morning – as they are the only comic relief that I get on that day.

We don’t need demon Charlie to “prove” spirit possession. A good over-dose of faith in the Christian religion and far too much physical worship will usually guarantee church members being possessed by that famous “holy spirit” or being “spirit influenced” to “speak in tongues”.

Anyway, like all childhood pranks, I have no doubt that this one will pass too. It is incredible that the education ministry has managed to even find the time to give the public the impression that this Charlie demon gimmick has any truth to it. The ministry must realize by now that the cat is out of the bag and that, as with so many of its other directives, this one will most likely be ignored too. It would have been better if the ministry just ignored this new teenage fad.

EDITOR: The views in this article are solely those of the writer Michael A Dingwall and are not of this publication iNews Cayman.

IMAGE: www.independent.co.uk

See related iNews story published today in iNews Briefs “Medical and spiritual aid sought as Caribbean children play Charlie Charlie Challenge”