I'm SIGMA-tised!!!

On Sunday, I completed my first Sigma 5K run. Given my history of athletic NON-performance, this was a big deal for friends and family (hehe).

My mother, spiritual maverick that she is, put it all into wonderful perspective.

She encouraged me to approach every day of my life with the same level of tenacity and drive I'd applied to Sigma.

In essence, what she said was:

When you get tired and feel worn out, DON'T STOP. RUN ANYWAY.

When you feel drained and parched and starved and desperately far from the finish line, DON'T STOP. RUN ANYWAY.

When you feel sick and close to dying, and feel like thousands of people are easily passing you by while you're there giving your best and not moving an inch, DON'T STOP. RUN ANYWAY.

You may not win the WHOLE race, but you will win YOUR race, meet your goals, and accomplish something spectacular.

Have a great day, you! :)

1,600 too many ...

The Sunday Gleaner's main story 

lamented the loss of 

 an unbelievable  

1,600 children  

to crime and violence.

That's 1,600 futures snuffed out;

1,600  

solutions 

to problems 

in Jamaica 

that we will 

NEVER

have the joy 

of experiencing;

1,600 voices, 

smiles,

 lives 

that will 

never 

be heard,  

seen 

or experienced.

 

In my mind, 

 
it creates a 

 
yawning chasm 

 
in the future 

 
of our nation.

We will never know 

what we have lost 

in those 1,600 children.

Our record for 

savage heartlessness 

is nothing to be proud of.

It's 1,600 innocent lives, Jamaica!!

When will we wake up and stop the senseless killing?

See the Sunday Gleaner article here.

Bad News Blues

Yesterday was an exercise in deep grief and tragedy.

I sat through the first half-hour of TVJ's news broadcast experiencing a gamut of feelings from the darker end of the emotional spectrum.

First, a policeman was killed and five others injured during a tactical training exercise. Somehow, one (or it could be some) of the rifles that were supposed to contain blanks were loaded with live rounds of ammunition. The result was fatal. Then 14-year-old Sherifa Saddler was killed, allegedly strangled with her school uniform tie, and her body thrown from a car onto a street. Then some deranged lunatic shot a four-year-old in his face. He died on the spot. To hear the mother talk was heartbreaking.

I haven't watched the news and felt this way in a while. It wasn't the normal level of expected sadness. I felt  wave after wave of overwhelming grief as story after story unveiled horror upon horror. I cried.

But it wasn't done. Imagine my shock when I later found out that the decomposed body of former high-schoolmate, 23-year-old Brittney Mighty, was found in Port Rocky yesterday. Brittney had been reported missing for a week, and now ... well, we all know the tragic end to her story. It's too sad. And it's too much too soon.

Today is the first of February. Jamaica has already racked up a shocking number of deaths by murder – and murders of a most gruesome nature. We're one month into the new year, and I'm just hoping that these murders/stories are not indicators of how 2013 will be.

We want Jamaica to be the ideal place to live, work, and raise a family by 2030, and yet it seems that not even our police force can get it right – with each other. I shudder to think what the death toll will be like at the end of this year if we continue this way. I shudder to think that so many lives are uselessly lost in this very small, yet very great, island each day. Why can't we just get it right?

Seriously, why can't we just get it right?? If you believe in prayer, do us a favour and whisper a prayer for Jamaica.