Where The Soup Drips

As a child, in the Guyana countryside, from time to time, I would hear the older ones say, as they observed a certain kind
of behaviour on the part of someone, "That man know how to put his mouth where the soup drippin'!"....a way of describing
someone who was always, ungracefully, placing himself, where he could advance himself materially, and on the social ladder. This was usually said, by people who had known many deprivations in their lives, but were spiritually rich, and valued their dignity highly. They were prepared to work hard and face many hardships, but were not prepared to do crass and undignified things to advance themselves....hence their hardly concealed contempt for their soup catching contemporaries, who had no such inhibitions. The saying, in question, was designed to emblazon on your mind...a picture of people shiftily moving around others, with their faces upturned and mouths open, not in awe of the beauty of the sun and the stars, but being in a permanent state of soup catching readiness. I think it did an excellent job of that, and this, and other messages about
conducting yourself with dignity through life, really registered on me. So much so, that in all my years of writing songs, singing, and making records, I tended to be the one who was absent at schmooze fests, the stock in trade of being involved
in music, or just about anything else, in order to promote your career. "How" you conducted yourself and not "what you
achieved" became my yardstick, as I continued to do my work. Although...somehow.. I've had my "fifteen minutes"...I can honestly say that whatever small advances in "being known" were made in my life..they have been a result of standing, face forward...and mouth open...to sing my organic song...and not being poised to receive...any drops of soup that might come dripping my way..............Quester.