Bwoy sometimes I have to wonder about our little Island. We are a really extreme people. Having hearning the latest news over the last week, and the conversation I had with fellow coworkers at lunch while on a training course has got me thinking.
We're a small Island out in the Caribbean, yet we're able to produce world class athletes. And we're also able to produce world class criminal stats. Throw in the fact that we have the most churches per square mile in the region. Oh, and being small and insignificant didnt stop the CIA from being interested in us in the 70s. We have Jamaican rhodes scholars and we have grown men who cant read. To tourists we are know as some of the friendliest people around. Ive heard the same from many expatriates we work with that have been all over the world. Yet, even so police can beat a fellow officer at the drop of a hat. Ok fine, the details of the actual incident are sketchy, but the fact remains the corporal was attacked for doing something trivial. And trust me, for a small place we can CHAT. If the rumours are true sooner or later we'll all get cancer from all the mobile phone usage.
One of my major problems with our society is that we dont do enough to big up ourselves. If its not track and field or football or something widely accepted like that, you dont hear about it. And thats sad. The trainer is from Toronto, he's telling us that there is a 70+ year old Jamaican man there that sells Jerk chicken. Now get this. His restaurant is in one of the most high priced, posh areas. He sells his dishes at $20+ and $30+ dollars. How does he prepare his chicken? He has a cut out drum and uses an open coal flame. In other words, he prepares his chicken EXACTLY the same way any pan chicken man does it. And he's making a killing. Why? Cause ppl there love the chicken and are willing to pay those high prices for it. But do you hear anything like that? Nooo.
I also found out that Ting has been the 1st place winner of some International Soft Drink competition. More than once, Ting has claimed the title of the best soft drink in the world. I was like "WHAT? How come I dont know that? Why isnt that general knowledge??" Apparently a comment about it is there on the label of the glass bottle Ting, not the plastic bottle. Next time I buy a bottle of Ting im going to make sure look.
Ey, you know how much visitors to our Island dont know what a patty is? You know how much of them LOVE it? Why arent we using this to our advantage? Why some man cyaa go open a likkle patty shop in Cuba or something like that? Ok, granted, I heard Island Grill opened a store in Florida, but it didnt do well because they used chicken not from Jamaica, hence things tasted different. I wonder if they tried opening stores in the Caribbean though...
The "Riddim Girls" (or is it "Sunshine Girls?"), the women's netball team, have apparently been a force to be reckoned with for a good while now, placing high in world championships if not winning. But it has only been in maybe the last 2 or so years notice has been taken of this. I guess netball isnt as big a sport as say football or cricket, so its not worthy of mention.
And even us, Panoridim. Third place in an International SteelBand competition. Isnt that an achievement worth knowing about??
Granted, the achievement of a Veronica Campbell or an 'Afasa' Powell is something that we Jamaicans can look on and feel proud. But I feel the great achievements of those in 'not-so-prestigious' ways should still be noticed and 'bigged-up' just the same. I suppose to some of us less fortunate, a Veronica Campbell is someone that has achieved a status they cant relate to because it looks too dreamlike for them to imagine that they could ever be that successful, but a Jodi-Ann Maxwell, or that pan chicken man in Canada I mentioned earlier, seeing someone as 'normal' as they can certainly give some of those same 'less fortunate' Jamaicans some hope, that the way of the gun is not the only way to be a successful 'big man' in this country.
Jamaica, a place of extremes....so hopeful, yet so hopeless....
Through ironically colourful colourblind eyes....
Jamaica, a place of extremes
The power of blogs
Check out this blog about life in Iraq from an Iraqi. I havent been through the entire thing but I suggest you go into the archives and browse posts from as far back as 2003. Just goes to go you cant always depend on what you see in the news.
A Reason, A Season or a Lifetime
"A Reason, A Season or a Lifetime"
People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.
When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason, you need them to be.
Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled;
their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.
When people come into your life for a SEASON,
it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.
They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson,
love the person/people (any way);
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships
and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
Author Unknown
Seems so logical, doesnt it? To put something as abstract and difficult to define/understand as love in such a logical way is...well...hmm...
They say the Lord works in mysterious ways. Ways that we dont always understand. There's a lot about life I dont understand. God gave us Love so we could feel for someone, for better or for worse. He gave us different kinds of love; family love, friendly love, brotherly love, religious love, significant other love, the list goes on. Yet in a lot of those instances, in our youth when we understand love the least, most of these loves arent meant to last.
He created love for us to want to hold on, yet in the end we have no choice but to let go. At least to some degree. Your parents will eventually die. As you grow older you change, your friends change, your relationship may change. This pertains to friends, as well as wives/husbands. If your partner changes over the years, whether for better or for worse, so much that they are different from the person you married, then on some level you have to let go. The same goes for the scenarios previously mentioned.
What happens if you meet someone who is there for a reason, only you dont yet realize it? When you do eventually realize it (usually when its too late), the lesson seems to be "ok, dont get too attached until youre sure"....but how do you know whether or not youre sure if youve never been there before? What if right after the "reason" person you met the "lifetime" person but stay detached and risk throwing away what could have potentially been a great thing? Ok, fine, then love and live life passionately. But Love tends to make one want to hold on and never let go, which is great for the "lifetime" person but bad for the "reason" person.
He must really be having fun up there.
People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.
When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason, you need them to be.
Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled;
their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.
When people come into your life for a SEASON,
it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.
They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson,
love the person/people (any way);
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships
and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
Author Unknown
Seems so logical, doesnt it? To put something as abstract and difficult to define/understand as love in such a logical way is...well...hmm...
They say the Lord works in mysterious ways. Ways that we dont always understand. There's a lot about life I dont understand. God gave us Love so we could feel for someone, for better or for worse. He gave us different kinds of love; family love, friendly love, brotherly love, religious love, significant other love, the list goes on. Yet in a lot of those instances, in our youth when we understand love the least, most of these loves arent meant to last.
He created love for us to want to hold on, yet in the end we have no choice but to let go. At least to some degree. Your parents will eventually die. As you grow older you change, your friends change, your relationship may change. This pertains to friends, as well as wives/husbands. If your partner changes over the years, whether for better or for worse, so much that they are different from the person you married, then on some level you have to let go. The same goes for the scenarios previously mentioned.
What happens if you meet someone who is there for a reason, only you dont yet realize it? When you do eventually realize it (usually when its too late), the lesson seems to be "ok, dont get too attached until youre sure"....but how do you know whether or not youre sure if youve never been there before? What if right after the "reason" person you met the "lifetime" person but stay detached and risk throwing away what could have potentially been a great thing? Ok, fine, then love and live life passionately. But Love tends to make one want to hold on and never let go, which is great for the "lifetime" person but bad for the "reason" person.
He must really be having fun up there.
Illusions
To protect and serve...........their own egos??
With all that is going on in our society, what with teenagers getting raped and shot, with Spanish Town being taken over by gunmen, with innocent Catholic priests being senselessly killed, it was indeed a sight to see the police out in their full numbers, in at least 5 spots on my way to work this morning..........issuing traffic tickets.
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