grace

The Grace of Interruption

Photographed by Brenda L. McCartney

It is the end of Easter holiday, thousands of Bahamians and Bahamians residents are returning relaxed and enthused from spending their holiday abroad and in particular the family of Islands. The domestic airport attendants are very busy. The conveyor belts are working overtime with suitcases, ice boxes of fish and conch harvested from the waters of The Bahamas. The long term parking lots revenue has sky rocketed. There are flashes of million dollar smiles from passersby. The hot cross buns have all been eaten, the mini regattas wined down. Some have spent time in reflective moments on endless spaces of white sandy beaches. Others strolled onto shallow banks of the oceans for miles while some enjoyed beach picnics of fun and frolic. For many children the Easter baskets had their favorite treats. Easter weekend was a weekend underpinned by sharing, encouraging and sacrificing where our thoughts, deeds and words were mostly motivated by love. I hope that this refreshing pause helps us to become focused and energizing.


 

The Transition

Photographed by Martin Applegate

When last have you sat down and recounted the days when you thought that your parents were highly unreasonable, judicious, controlling, and rigid? Have you ever as a child remembered those one or two times (maybe more) when you contemplated the possibility you may have been adopted. It could be that you even took it a step further and expressed your hostility in words like “I hate them/you/her/him.” Don’t say that it is only me that thought these things. Now that you are a parent guardian or simply an adult you have come to realize that they were not mercenaries. Their tactics, however misconstrued, were meant to protect, love and care. As a parent looking back I see things in a different way. I now realize that all the parenting I received, with the benefit of hindsight, now all makes sense!

Spasm

Reprimands hit like a ball

Mass defense

Aversion – misapprehension

Field of translation adrift

Images of hidden strangers

Them and us

The struggle

Capricious rituals

Fresh with sour outpour

Their inexplicable beliefs

Beyond reach or comprehension

The common experiences pointless

Now!

The fanaticism of rite and right and wrong

Fluid …

Trimmed with grace plus erudition

The magnificent just war

The sacrificial symbols

Transitioned

Into components of our lives

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Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney