What happened to black pride? What happened to everyone being proud of their black heritage and the flooding of black pride on all social media platforms? The importance of protecting our fellow black men have already died out? We are no longer opposed to police brutality? We are no longer opposed to descrimination?  For me, it was refreshing to long into my social media accounts and see the outrage about acts of brutality towards black people in recent times. However, the outrage has died down and apparently the  hype surrounding it is no more. What changes will we expect to take place if we fall so quickly when distracting issues come our way? Regardless of whatever issues come about we have to ensure that we do our best to push our agenda at the centre and not let awareness about it die now. Black lives shouldn't just matter for a little bit it should be on our lips each and everyday. We as a people need or not become so easily distracted but stand firm amidst whatever distracti

So the relationship has come to an end and you can no longer stand to see his face and you get upset every time you think about him. The story of the bitter baby mother is a very familiar one to us as we see it on social media platforms and in television shows. As like every other issue these days the first place to air grievances is on social media. Bitter baby mother believe they are doing what is best for their child but it's actually the total opposite. The best thing for the child is to have their parent in their lives if of course that parent isn't mentally ill or otherwise dangerous to the safety of the child. A bitter baby mother should never pretend a father from having a relationship with his child because of her hatred for the man. Whatever went wrong between the both of you is between the both of you the child has no part in that. I recently watched a movie where the mother hid from her daughter for years that her father tried to connect with her because of her hatr

Perhaps you never heard of her before but now the whole world knows her name not for the work she did but because of the apparent lie that she told of being of black heritage. The attacks have been thrown her way from all corners but mostly from the black community. My first question however is how many attacks are thrown the way of those blacks who pretend to be white each and everyday? Do we frown upon them? Majority of us just simply ignore them. This lady loved the race so much she pretended to be apart of it to bring across change. Yes she lied, but let me see a show of hands for all the saints who have never lied about anything before? Let me see a show of hands for my fellow black people who don't adapt anything from the white community? This attack on Rachel shows that unity is even more just a dream more than ever. Many of the advocates for our freedom were white people, there were those who forgot about their white skin and helped in the fight would you still attack them

Firstly, to all my readers let me ask you how many of you actually remember in details your basic school graduation? It's that time of year when schools and the education ministry are knocking heads as to the expensive graduation packages. I believe that the hypeness associated with basic school graduations is just for parents to have an outlet to show how nicely they themselves can dress and how well they can dress their children. I attended Spanish town infant as a child and I remember having a very small service nothing spectacular. I then went on to St.Catherine primary where we graduated in our uniforms and the very same thing happened when I graduated from Wolmer's Girls. Do I feel any less than those who graduated in gowns at every stage of their academic journey? I sure don't. Parents spending over $10000 for a child who the following week won't even remember half of what took place. If you want to have a big celebration create one at your home and stop pleading

Everybody is busy doing something or the other these days or so they claim. People always seem to find an excuse for something these days, either they are too tired, busy or they forgot. Is it that people are shouldering too many responsibilities or is time moving by at a very very fast pace. To keep our lives in order, we often make list of things to do, the duties that we have for the day, week, month and year. However, when making these lists, how many of us remember to put our loved ones at the very top of our list? One of the biggest problems facing relationships these days is lack of attention. Some might hear that and think that some people are too needy but attention is a very important component in friendships and relationships. A friend or a partner always wants to feel as if they are a priority in your life they don't want to have to compete every single day for a spot on your list of responsibilities. Not only should we ensure that our loved ones are at the top of our l

Many of us have actually never revealed the real us to anyone. We may reveal bits and pieces of ourselves to some but we often keep certain things to ourselves. We do this because we are trying to protect ourselves from hurt, we believe that if people know certain things about us they might use it against us and we may not be strong enough to stand up to that ridicule. We get up out of bed sometimes and we feel nothing. We sit for awhile and then we think to ourselves about what mask we will put on today. For some of us we choose a mask based on the group that we want to fit in with and for others we choose a mask to keep people away from us. Our masks show either anger, sadness, contentment or happiness.  We put on these masks before we go to school, to make our teachers and friends feel as if we are happy to be there or that we are pleased with the path that we are on . We put on masks when we go to work so that our boss will feel that we are happy with our job. We put on masks aroun

Jamaica land we love!! I remember singing the national anthem every morning in primary school and having to stand attention to it during high school. Whenever I visit the movies the anthem is played before the movies begin and people can be heard complaining about having to stand. They sit and eat and talk while the anthem is being played. On the other hand I will see people who migrate from Jamaica to America dressed up in their American colours on their Independence Day and showing their love for their country. Is Jamaican pride something that we no longer embrace? Is the love for our country fading? What worries me is that instead of pride in our country increasing it continues to be on the decline. Once or twice a year we take pride in our country but for the majority of the year we are primarily caught up in the affairs of other countries. Our financial situation as a country can be improved or infrastructure can be improved but without a knowledge of our culture we will never ful

Growing up many of us were encouraged to either become a doctor or a lawyer. These professions were always placed high on a pedestal and we were told that these are the jobs we should aim for. Firstly, I always wondered why the people who encouraged me to choose one of these paths were not working in any of these capacities. I grew up as a child filled with questions and I would question my parents about everything. From a very young age I loved writing and I knew that I wanted to spend my life doing this. My parents on the other hand never encouraged that dream of mind as I was always encouraged to become a lawyer or a doctor.  When I listen to children on our primary and preparatory quiz competitions the most popular professions are lawyer and doctor. We neèd to encourage our children to look at other paths. Many of us will not be able to become a lawyer or doctor either because of finances or because we don't have the intelligence for it. Parents need to realize that everybody i

As seems to be the case these days social media is the outlet to air every and anything. People would rather address their partners via social media, discuss family matters via social media and apparently bash their neighbours on social media. The social media world is buzzing today due to Usain Bolt's neighbour publicly bashing him for some of his bad habits. Yes, if these allegations are true they should be addressed immediately. However, I don't agree with the outlet in which she decided to use to get the story out there. If my neighbour threw something in my back yard I'm going to knock on their door and tell them about it I'm not going to take it to social media. If her neighbour was not a public figure I guarantee you she would not take this to the media. People will do any and everything to bring down the perception of people in the public. For the hundredth time I'm going to implore people to discuss their issues privately because once you put it out there e

Apparently, the in thing is to say that the world is either filled with only fake people or you can trust anybody. Yes, I do agree that more and more these days we are surrounded by people who continually to show themselves to be untrustworthy.  From people who have little to nothing to people who have all the riches in the world people are proving to be hard to trust. Because of this perception relationships, business and everyday interactions have become somewhat more difficult. When you meet someone for the first time they tend to bombard you with more questions than usual. For those in relationships their partners are more skeptical of the things they do and say. For business owners they have to watch their employees keenly while employees have to be careful of those they work for. My question however is if everyone is speaking out about the increase in untrustworthy people who are those people who are indeed still trustworthy? Believe it or not there are still people in this world

I once had a friend who grew to be very close to me. Once when we were sitting at the edge of a swimming pool, she filled the palm of her hand with a little water and held it before me, and said this: "You see this water carefully contained on my hand? It symbolizes Love." This was how I saw it: "As long as you keep your hand caringly open and allow it to remain there, it will always be there. Ho wever, if you attempt to close your fingers round it and try to posses it, it will spill through the first cracks it finds. This is the greatest mistake that people do when they meet love...they try to posses it, they demand, they expect... and just like the water spilling out of your hand, Love will retrieve from you. For love is meant to be free, you cannot change its nature. If there are people you love, allow them to be free beings. Give and don't expect. Advise, but don't order. Ask, but never demand. It might sound simple, but it is a lesson that may take a lifetim

This poem was inspired by the current problems that Jamaicans are having with the scheduled increase in passport fees. I've been looking at the comments of many Jamaicans who seem rather incentive about the issue but I just smile because one day I might just find themselves in a position where they may finally understand why so many have taken this so hard. Passport Saga By:Saccheen Laing The sun hot bad man  Look how long me stand up in a this line just cause me can't afford the 2000 extra dimes Oh God man I'm sure this is a crime Just to get a new passport I have to endure all of this? One week notice them give us and never expect the bomb rush and the heckle and beckle   The head of PICA lock up tight tight a enjoy her a/c While the heat from the sun a terrorize we The flight of the poor shall go on No little mercy on us who only get the little 5grand  Just to show that I am a Jamaican man I wake up from before the sun rise above the land 

Friendships and relationships continue to suffer due to the journey for perfection. People enhance their bodies on the journey to what they view as perfection. People seek knowledge of certain things in order to achieve perfect intellect. This journey towards perfect leaves us from time to time to believe that others around us must themselves step up and be perfect or they no longer fit into our perfect lives. Believe it or not those friends who falter from time to time will help you to either learn from their mistakes or they will inspire you when they overcome the mishaps. As friends we can't drop those who maybe aren't able to keep up with the speed at which we are reaching the end our journeys. Often times I see quotes that speak about drop those who aren't going anywhere behind and go after your dreams. However, we have to make sure that we don't drop those who are progressing but aren't yet at perfection.