“I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.” ~ Lou Holtz. I have a famous uncle. Well, he was my father’s uncle, which makes him my great-uncle. And he was not really famous. But he used to correspond with the great psychologist, psychiatrist and […]
“The only thing I know that truly heals people is unconditional love.” ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Until my family moved to Jamaica, we did not have pets. Although, come to think of it, somehow I ended up being the guardian of a group of water snails. They were entrusted to my care by my teacher, and then, […]
“Good words cool more than cold water.” ~ John Ray. In high school my classmates and I were lucky enough to have the same ‘form teacher’ (I guess in the US he would be called our home-room teacher) for five years. I say lucky, because he was one of those rare teachers, a man who […]
“Soul is about authenticity. Soul is about finding the things in your life that are real and pure.” ~ John Legend. I remember as a child learning to be polite, to appear interested even when bored. Being a ‘parson’s kid’ meant not saying the first thing that popped into your head but instead admiring that […]
“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi. My father loved words. Until dementia stole his cognitive sharpness he would read for hours, do obscure crossword puzzles, play Scrabble with my mother. Like some of us on Facebook, he would become annoyed by little […]
“Be thine own palace, or the world’s thy jail.” ~ John Donne. When I left Jamaica in the mid 70’s, I hadn’t heard the word ‘Soca’ used to describe the music we associated with those small islands of the Caribbean. It was Calypso music back then, and we mostly heard it in a 5-minute block […]
“The countenance of one man brighteneth another; Iron sharpeneth iron” ~ Joseph Hill, Culture. I have never doubted the power of the mind. My mother was a strong believer in mind over matter. It mostly had to do with you ignoring all of those things you wanted to use as excuses not to get a […]
