Police superintendent cautions SJCK students against wanting too much

SUPERINTENDENT OF police, Kameicia Blake has cautioned students at the St Joseph’s Convent, Kingstown (SJCK) against wanting too much, so that it leads them into criminal activities.

Blake was the featured speaker at the 2022 graduation ceremony at the Convent held on Thursday. April 28 She told the students that there is nothing wrong with being ambitious, and wanting more in life.

She however cautioned that “wanting more must not make us monsters, evil or cold.”

Blake added that there are people who turn to crime because they failed to see what they have, and appreciate it.

She was addressing the 2022 graduating class on the theme “Light in the storm.”

In her feature address, she used the word ‘storm’ as an acronym, and gave a meaning for each letter of the word beginning with the letter ‘S’ which she defined using the word selective.

“Be selective in your friends, your company, your peers and your associations.”

In being selective, she called on the graduating class to ensure they are surrounded by a circle of positive influence, productive and ambitious people.

As an additional part of being selective, the students were told, “limit your circle, in terms of who you confide in, and associate with.”

“Be selective of what you share and who you share it with.”

For the Letter ‘T’, Blake chose the word thankful.

“Always have a spirit of gratitude, always be thankful for what you have.

The featured speaker made the point that a spirit of gratitude will propel them for greater things.

“When you are thankful for your circumstances, you appreciate the finer things in life better.”

Blake further stated that being appreciative reduces the stress which is associated with discontentment, greed and selfishness.

She stressed that one should be thankful for what they have and that “wanting more should not make us monsters.”

Optimistic is the word she used with the letter

‘O’, while urging the students to have ambition and “be positive of what life gives you.”

“Always want to better the you of yesterday, or of today,” Blake urged.

For the letter ‘R’, Blake used the word realistic.

Under this heading, she reminded students of the 2022 graduating class to “be realistic about your plans,” and ensure that they are attainable.

“You can’t want to work in a bakery and don’t like the feel of flour on your hands,” she pointed out.

In order to set realistic goals, the students must first know their own abilities.

The final letter in the word ‘storm’ is the letter ‘M’ and here, Blake used the word merciful, to point the students to some important life lessons.

“Create a spirit of mercy and forgiveness,” she encouraged.

“People are going to wrong you and you are going to wrong others.

“You will have to learn to forgive them, not forgiving because of them, but forgiving because of you.”

Blake also urged the students to recognise when they are wrong, to apologise for that wrong.

“The same way you have to forgive, you will want to be forgiven,” she stressed.

Blake, who is a past student of SJCK, placed the students on alert that storms are going to come in their lives.

“Weather and storm come to disrupt our lives,” she pointed out; they “change our lives, and can divert us, regardless of how prepared we are.”

“We rarely get any advance notice of life’s storms.”

“This is the reason why they knock us down and out,”she said.

Blake emphasised however that storms form part of life, and they help to build character.