“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” ~ Edith Wharton. One of the most annoying things we ask children is ‘What do you want to be when you grow up.’ I was reminded of that in a conversation with a four-year-old who, without being asked, […]
“Love doesn’t make the world go ’round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” ~ Franklin P. Jones. December has always been my favorite month of the year. No surprise really, since it is my birth month. Considering I only saw a tiny bit of December when I was born (on the eve of New […]
“Any society based on domination supports and condones violence.” ~ bell hooks. I remember wearing my first pair of pants. Long pants. Warm legs on a cold winter’s day in England, probably when I was about six or seven years old. Back then, in the early 60s, shorts in the summer (not for ‘going out’ […]
“Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery.” ~ John Ruskin. For those who love Jamaica, but who live in the diaspora, these past four weeks or so have been difficult. While life goes on as usual, there is, always, at the back of one’s mind, at the corner of one’s eye, […]
“The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. Somebody who may not look like you. May not call God the same name you call God – if they call God at all. I may not dance your dances or speak your […]
“Ring the alarm, another sound is dying, woh-oh, hey!” ~ Clive ‘Tenor Saw’ Bright. Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My father, being proudly Welsh and therefore a singer, led the church choir wherever he was the minister. But it wasn’t only hymns we sang. In […]
“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice, he is the worst.” ~ Aristotle. When I was in my mid thirties (half a lifetime ago!), I was officially promoted from direct care nurse to administration. In nursing, the most demanding, least rewarding position is that of ‘Nurse Manager’. […]
“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike” ~ Maya Angelou. The recent visit of Hurricane Melissa to Jamaica has, in addition to the human suffering and devastating loss of property and agriculture, resulted in the destruction of the historic town of Black River, a town whose existence was noted on a map […]
“However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?” ~ Buddha. My parents must have moved house at least four times in the first 20 years of their marriage. Since my father was a minister, each new church came with […]