I visited the supermarket, shopped, and exited. While hurrying to escape the ants nests of pre-Christmas shoppers, I failed to secure by wallet in the back pocket of my pants. Precariously juggling two boxes of items in my hands, I neglected either to hear someone saying, “Your wallet is falling out”, or to recognize thatContinue reading “Beggars – Sacrament of the Divine”
Author Archives: donalddeanchambers
Comfort Zone
I reunited with my godson this past weekend. What a pleasure it was to engage him in an adult constructive and mature conversation! No longer am I the sole teacher. We are now both teachers and learners. During the conversations, our own learning styles were discussed and clarified. His learning style is predominantly auditory. HeContinue reading “Comfort Zone”
Everybody gone, gone, gone!
I sat on the verandah this cool and calm Saturday morning with my mother reminiscing and recalling the names of persons who lived in my childhood neighbourhood. My mother‘s elephant-like memory afforded her the opportunity to retrace the well-worn tracks of time and identify a litany of persons who have trodden those paths, some ofContinue reading “Everybody gone, gone, gone!”
Mother Mercy
James Keenan writes that “mercy is entering the chaos of another.” On a COVID-19 pandemic flight from Port of Spain to Miami, I witnessed mercy in the action of a mother of two – a toddler in arms and another about four years old. Our seats were next to each other like dominoes on aContinue reading “Mother Mercy”
Covid and Road Management
What does COVID-19 pandemic management and Road Management have in common? I sat on a chair by the window of my hotel room looking out as the morning sun, partially blocked by the hotel building, casts a shadow on a major highway intersection. The intersection is like a spider web with several lanes crisscrossing overContinue reading “Covid and Road Management”
The Jigsaw Puzzle – Metaphor for the Synodal Journey
Each piece of a jigsaw puzzle represents a human story – the story of a lay person, a clergy, a bishop. Each piece has a different shape, different contour, different colour – no one person’s story is the same as another’s. Alone by itself, every piece is like a fish out of water, helpless, lifeless,Continue reading “The Jigsaw Puzzle – Metaphor for the Synodal Journey”
Synodal Eyes
Along with scores of “Thanksgiving Day” airplane passengers I stood anxiously awaiting the arrival of my luggage on the conveyor belt. A Miami airport worker arrived with a young man in a wheelchair and stopped about six feet to my right. Clearly a patient and victim of an orthopedic surgeon, the dreadlocks afro-looking young manContinue reading “Synodal Eyes”
Construction At What Cost?
THE EDITOR, Madame: Recently, I returned to Jamaica after 18 months, due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the closure of the international borders of Trinidad and Tobago. At first sight, I was awestruck by visible signs of a booming construction industry – incredible high-rise residential buildings in Kingston and St. Andrew, Business Processing OutsourcingContinue reading “Construction At What Cost?”
Corruption
THE EDITOR, Madame: Corruption in Jamaica’s public sector has dominated the headlines in the print and electronic media for the last several weeks: Alleged corruptive activity at the Rural Agricultural Development Agency, Clarendon Alumina Production, and the Ministry of Education. In a recent radio interview, Dr. Trevor Munroe, Executive Director of the National Integrity Commission,Continue reading “Corruption”
Christmas Arrives, Christ Arrives
Like a river flowing rapidly downstream, Christmas Day arrives. After a yearlong journey Christ arrives. At the arrival, I feel both joyful and fearful. Joy triggered by the gift of family and friends, the gift of my father’s life…his heart almost failed him, joy at witnessing the providential intervention of God over the last fewContinue reading “Christmas Arrives, Christ Arrives”
