“Life may have plans that will completely overthrow your pettiness.” ~ Jeetendra.

I learned to read when I was very young but of course I would stumble against unusual words.  For some reason I can remember learning to say the alphabet in phonetic style rather than naming the letters, so that one day I was proud to read the sign on the side of a bus as ‘Manchester Kity Bus’.  Since I was the youngest my mispronunciations provoked laughter in my siblings.  I managed a very long word one day, the name of a common pet in British households commonly known as a ‘budgie’, one of those ‘Pretty Polly’ type of talking birds.  The full name is budgerigar (pronounced bujrigar’), but once more laughter ensued when I pronounced it ‘buj-Eh-rigar’.

But I persisted.  Later in life, after I moved to the US, my (as I thought) correct pronunciation of certain words was sure to make my new American co-workers laugh.  Learning to say ‘resp-itory’ instead of ‘resp-ir-a-tory’ helped to prevent that response.  But it took me a long time to say ‘a-loom-in-um’ instead of the proper ‘al-you-min-eeum’.  Two countries separated by a language.  Of course asking for ‘water’ with a sharp ‘T’ instead of ‘wada’, or batt-eries instead of ‘baderies’ could cause confusion.  Much easier to go with the flow.

The other day I recalled a time when I was almost out of high school and flirting with a slightly older guy.  Well I thought I was being flirtatious until he told me to ‘stop being so puerile’.  Naturally I was offended, since I had no idea what the word meant and had to wait till I went home to look it up in an actual dictionary (Oxford pocket of course) to be even more offended! How dare he say I was childish, immature?  Of course now years later I have no idea what I said that provoked his comment!

Because I love reading still, I often come across words not used in everyday language that I don’t look up, but understand the context. I was once quite upset when a boss of mine (one I did not particularly like) used a word I had never heard or read before, and once again I had to go home and look it up! (Does anyone remember a world before smart phones and the Google?).  In a meeting she had told us that we were in a new paradigm.  As is often the case, once I heard it that day I seemed to hear it more often, and eventually had to read a book in university written by the man who coined the phrase ‘paradigm shift’.

Words can be lyrical, can entertain, can entrance, can paint pictures.  But they can also cut, wound, offend and hurt.  We can throw phrases around not thinking how they are perceived, and in so doing can demean others.  Often we have no idea that we are being offensive, and then get upset with the one who decided to be offended.  I once had to have that conversation with a friend who insisted he had not offended another friend. I had to explain to him that it was not up to him to decide whether he had offended her, if she felt offended that was her perception.

At a time when more people than ever are being offensive and not wanting to acknowledge it (in case that makes them ‘woke’), it seems that what is missing in our discourse is a consideration of our impact on others.  One political party in particular seems to take joy in ‘othering’ people, acting as if only one type (race) of people are standard, and anyone not falling into the category of straight and white somehow does not belong. 

We need to differentiate between casual offhand comments that begin in ignorance and a pattern of systematic racism that continues to inform the treatment of the non-white population of the world.  There are big things at stake.  I have recently read more and more articles about environmental justice, the fact that climate change; pollution; toxic and harmful environments have way more impact on communities of color and low socio-economic status.  The underdeveloped countries of the world bear the brunt of rampant waste and carbon gas emission by the overdeveloped world.  And with extreme weather events (which again harm vulnerable communities first) now happening every day, it is clear that big actions are called for.

Last weekend I was fortunate to spend time with a large group of people who had one thing in common, we all attended the same high school, though in different eras.  The story of the founding of that high school is legendary in Jamaica.  A young pastor with a dream founded the school in a country parish, specifically for the children of the poor farmers.  The rich sent their children to high schools in Kingston.  There were few high schools in the rural areas.  He was so inspired that on the Sunday before the first day of school he declared at the church service launching the new beginning: ‘Tomorrow by God’s grace I shall light a candle whose flame will never be put out’.  Stirring words made more poignant by the fact that within a month of its founding, the Rev. Lester Davy died in a train crash, on his way to buy supplies for his students.  That was 81 years ago, and what started with a handful of students is now a school of over 1500 students; with engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, professors, politicians and more graduates of that school upon the hill.

This Friday morning I hope you can lift up your eyes beyond the petty to do great things.  I hope you can see beyond the careless words to help to bring about change in our public discourse.  And I hope you can party with your friends to remind yourself of the things that really matter in life.

Have a wonderful weekend, Family!

One Love!

Namaste.