Showing posts with label Munro College. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Munro College. Show all posts

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Reflections.

This Gleaner story of January 18, 2024, under the headline; Football dream fading, Second denial of US visa puts Munro graduate’s scholarship goal in jeopardy,"  only caught my attention because it involved my ‘brother’ school.  ”

I am surprised how little comment this story has elicited though, since it depicts so vividly, the popular experience with bureaucracies can cause, summed up thus;  He /she who plays by the rules get, shafted.”

According to the report; The dream of 20-year-old Munro College graduate Oral Thompson to pursue football internationally appears to be fading after his efforts to pick up a university scholarship in the United States were halted with his second denial of a student visa four months apart. Thompson, who has been offered a partial scholarship to attend the University of Northwestern Ohio, has until the second week in March to settle and begin classes at the private institution in Lima, Ohio. Football dream fading."

Most of us appreciate that America is a country of immigrants, (the only non-immigrants being the Native Americans) so most residents there are not intolerant of others trying to gain better opportunities by traveling to that country.

However, the Republican Party tends to be outrightly anti-immigrant and their current leader never fails to denigrate us, to the point of saying immigrants contaminate their blood.

On the other hand, the current policy being pursued by the Democratic Party is one that encourages chaos and illegality.

Over the years, I have heard tragic stories about families being torn apart for years and sometimes even decades, because of the difficulty, the exasperating legal process and the long time it takes to obtain legal visas, whether to migrate or even just visit.

I am sure this tiresome experience has not just frustrated Jamaicans over the decades, but indeed people from all over the world, who are trying to get to the USA.

Now, under the present Biden administration however, all you have to be able to do is learn to climb a wall or squeeze through barbed wire, to enter the USA.

Don’t waste your time trying to enter through the legal process, as young Thompson is now learning!

To make it even better for those who favor illegality over going through legal processes, they can get numerous benefits that not even those who were born there are able to!

For example, California is giving the law-breakers free health care, while thousands of those persons born in the USA or who migrated there legally but don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare, get left without health coverage, if they cannot afford a policy through Obama Care.

Recently too, children in New York were deprived of in-person education, because their classrooms were given to illegal immigrants. In cities like NY, LA, San Francisco, Chicago etc, while citizens live on the streets because they cannot afford the rent, illegals can get free accommodation!

Because it’s now a free for all too, terrorists, criminals and smugglers can enter, no problem while aspirants who play by the rules, can't.

No wonder Biden is seeing a massive fall-off in support from most categories of his voters in poll after poll, for most people are law-abiding and prefer due-process to a policy that victimizes the law-abiding people while rewarding law-breakers!

Biden’s immigration policy will go a far way in encouraging voters to turn away from the Democrats in the upcoming elections.  

His policies can only benefit Trump and his Maga supporters.

For no reasonable person supports policies that victimize honest people while rewarding law breakers.

 

Sunday, July 23, 2023

The final farewell

No matter how ill someone is and you know only death can only bring them peace, you are still very sad when you say that final farewell.


That's how it was as I attended my schoolmate Hughie's funeral yesterday.

He had gotten the terrible news some 18 months ago that he was diagnosed with that unnerving stage four pancreatic cancer.

Hughie and Wife Desi.

This is a lethal cancer that also killed the likes of Pavoratti and Alex Trevet shortly after they were diagnosed .

Being a doctor himself, Hughie knew he had no chance of survival.

He tried to take the kemo but could not stand the terrible side effects. So he went to Mexico to try an alternative. 

While he knew it couldn't cure the demonic cancer, at least the side effects were not as bad.


He could now eat the foods he loved, have more time with his family and even return to his practice occasionally.

 But he knew it was only a matter of time, so he had to make the best of life,  one day at a time!

Faith DAguilar, well-known  Jamaican soloist, sang " One day at a time" and "God will take care of you"  for Hughie.

Very appropriate.

His funeral was held at the historic Mandeville Parish Church, St. Marks, which was built in 1820.



Dr. Bryan Morgan, former schoolmate and friend, spoke about his days at Munro College.

Hughie's daughter and her best friend delivered the eulogy.

It was more a celebration of Hughie's life, but as I ran into other schoolmates from our era, it reminded me how few of us are still around and healthy to boot!

I am happy that I got to visit him a year ago when he was feeling good and had even returned to his practice for a few hours daily.

Walk good mi fren.❤️