“The miracle was not worked from nothing, but from a first modest sharing of what a simple lad had brought with him. Jesus does not ask us for what we do not have. Rather, he makes us see that if each person offers the little he has, the miracle can always be repeated: God is capable of multiplying our small acts of love and making us share in his gift.”(Pope Francis on John 6:1-15)
I thank God for one of the great miracles he has wrought in my life recently. My father, who was 90 years old on July 22, decided to pick some mangoes for my nephew who, like many members of our family, was on his way from London to celebrate this milestone with him.Pa’s mind is still ‘young’, but he forgets that his body is getting older. He fell down six steps, fractured his coccyx, wounded his head, and lost about two pints of blood – as he did not call out for help immediately. He spent five days in hospital but is now resting at home. He is black and blue all over, but by God’s grace, he will be alright. Please pray for him.
Unaware of what had happened to my father, I was delivering the feature address at the graduation ceremony at Bright Ideas Preparatory School in Tunapuna. The Principal, Lianti Singh, and her team had chosen the theme: “I am a Beacon of my Destiny!” I share below an extract from my presentation to the young graduands:
“To be a beacon of your destiny you must let your light shine! When I was a little girl, my parents told me that if I wanted to succeed in life, I have to:
- dream big
- believe in myself and embrace the gifts that God has given to me
- work hard
- do my best
- do not be afraid of failure
- have courage
- never give up.
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A famous man called Sir Winston Churchill, who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, once said: ‘Success is not permanent, and failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.’ He struggled at school and did not always pass his exams. However, because he believed that failure was not the end of the world, he had courage to pursue his dreams. You may not succeed at everything that you try to achieve, but that should not prevent you from trying.
Being a beacon of your destiny is a lifelong challenge. It means accepting failure at times. Like Sir Winston Churchill, there are many famous people in the world who did not succeed the first time they tried to do something. But they succeeded eventually because they had the courage to keep trying.
To help you on your journey you should:
– love and care about others – don’t be a bully;
– be kind and generous – you must not be selfish or greedy;
– respect yourself, others, and your environment
– try to make the right choices. You are likely to succeed if you listen to your parents and teachers as they have your best interest at heart. They will teach you what is right and what is wrong and help you to make the right choices in life;
– comfort those who are sad or hurt;
– show that you have good manners – saying ‘Please’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Excuse me’ and so on.
It was a joy to hear each of you spell out how the following values will help you on your journey e.g. gratitude, justice, discipline, tolerance, love, peace, hope, politeness, kindness, love, tolerance, respect for all, feelings, faith, service, honesty, humility, integrity, truth, compassion and forgiveness.
Many young children like you have grown up in Trinidad and Tobago and have succeeded in life. You can succeed also, and, like them, you can help build a better T&T. (I told them the story of Keshorn Walcott). Keshorn’s story shows us that we must find out what we are good at doing. We must have some idea of what we want to do in life – even if we change our minds later on. And we must set ourselves goals. Your goals can be simple, for example:
- I am going to do my homework.
- I am going to pay attention in class.
- I am going to learn a new word every day.
- I am going to help my mummy and daddy at home.
- I will be the best that I can be today.”
