Remembering, sharing and a purpose driven life

08.Jan.10

Editor: I would like to wish the nation all the Almighty’s blessings, goodwill, good health and prosperity in this joyous season, and continuing on into the New Year 2010. Special greetings to the whole SEARCHLIGHT team and I wish them continued success in the New Year.{{more}}

I am of a different view in relation to this season in many ways, but what I must agree is that this is definitely a time for sharing with others, reflecting on life and finding purpose for your life. This is a season that brings back a lot of pain to my loved ones and me. Just two years ago on the 25th of December, Lloyd “Lazaras” Samuel was taken from us due to our increase in crime and violence, and I have made a pledge that every year around this season, I will make sure that he is remembered. To this date, his murderer(s) has/have not seen their day of judgement, but we continually find solace in the various writings in the Bible and know that all evil deeds shall and will be punished. So to the murderer(s) out there, we know that final judgement is in the hands of the Almighty, and what goes unheard and unseen by human eyes does not go unheard and unseen by the Almighty Father. Rest safe, my love, my brother and friend.

Although we have suffered a great loss during this period, we all must realize that even when you have lost you still have a lot to share with others. On the first anniversary of Lazaras’ death, my friend Nicola Timm and I paid a visit to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Christmas morning, during which we delivered gifts and snacks to the paediatric ward. We also showed appreciation to the staff of the intensive care unit. This was made possible through our funds and also donations from a few close friends. This season I decided to do something similar in my community, giving some Christmas cheer to over 40 kids in the Sion Hill village by hosting a Christmas party on Tuesday, December 22. This was made possible through donations from a few persons in the community and two persons from outside the community. On Christmas morning, the young boys of my village and I delivered baskets to seven elderly persons in our community. All these activities could not be done without the assistance of persons in our community.

I say all of this not to give any praise to what I have done, but to say that two and three persons can make a difference in various ways in our community. I want to drive the point that NGO’s, CBO’s and even smaller non organized groups can impact tremendously on our efforts of nation building. We all have to start thinking of the small things that we can do to make things better in our various communities. Too many times we hear the complaints of what is not being done by the Government. When I speak about Government I am not speaking of the ULP, NDP or any other P’s to come. I want the people to start taking a little more power and control into their own hands. We need to organize community activities to enlighten our communities. Have town hall discussions on issues of Local, Regional and International importance; organize educational activities for the whole family (such as video shows, documentary etc). Create the spirit of camaraderie to accomplish things of great importance in our communities, such as village clean up, Neighbourhood watch and other things of this nature.

I just completed a book the Purpose Driven Life, and to conclude I would wish to mention three purposes that I found very important. The book asked five questions, I thought three of them to be particularly significant.

• What will be the centre of my life? This question brings about the answer of what will your life be centered around. Some persons put careers, hobbies, family as the centre. The centre of all our lives should be the divine powers of the Almighty Creator. With him being the centre you are more equipped to deal with all listed above.

•  What will be the character of my life? How will you be defined? How will you be known? We all need to spend time and build positive characters. Our characters last for eternity and it is worthy of time to build the strongest and most impeccable one that we can.

•  What will be the contribution of my life? How will I spend my life? The best role in life is service to others, and by saying service to others is not saying that you cannot have a career, but saying that we must acknowledge the greatness and humility that comes from the service to others. We all in life need to spend some of our time here serving others. We can’t do service to all mankind but we can find our niche and serve in some way.

I hope and pray for all the bountiful blessings of the Almighty Father to be bestowed on all in our Nation and also to the different Nations of the World.

Peace and Love.

Angella “Ideisha” Jackson