Reading and enjoying all these posts has stirred some fond memories, and despite my more private personality, inspired me to share one of my own. I think of life as so many moments, with just a very limited few that genuinely shape or influence my core. Some of these few moments are subtle and extend over a stretch of time, but are only fully appreciated in hindsight, such as spending 7 formative years at an institution such as PRES. But if you’re lucky enough, as many on this group are, you will have a few very distinct moments, most of which happen in only a few seconds to a few minutes, that you are able to recognize right there when it occurs as life-changing, and stay with you until the day you pass on. Half my life ago, our Class of 98 had missed out on Form 5 Copperhole Retreat for some reason that eludes me now, and Bro promised us we would have two in 6-1 to make up for it. So on our first Retreat, after all the events of the weekend (solar flares, Saturday night unsupervised chaos while Bro was away visiting on another island, men seeing Jah and the Burning Bush, men swimming too far and needing the boat to come rescue them, 3am Sunday morning session on the jetty with Bro on the cuatro singing what seemed like minimum 30 different verses of ‘Clementine’, etc etc etc), Bro took his seat under the tree out front at the water’s edge as he always did, available to anyone for ‘Confession’ – a foreign concept for me, raised in a different religion. For some reason I still cannot explain, I felt compelled to engage him – but had no idea of what I wanted to say. I paced around outside for about an hour, battling in my head if to do it or not, while others took their opportunity to converse. It was getting late and he would be finished soon, so I had to make a decision. Suddenly, there was a gap and he was available. I quickly walked right up, looked at Bro, realized I was drawing a blank, and literally said, “I don’t know why I’m here, but I felt like I needed to talk”. Bro took one look at me, and was able to sense the mental angst I was going through with life (that I was not even able to clearly define in my own head). I never have and probably never will reveal the details of our conversation to anyone, but I will say that in less than 10 minutes, he managed to help me define and voice my struggles, create an environment to be comfortable to discuss them, give me the reassurance that nothing was wrong with me for experiencing them, and most importantly, reveal to me the tools I had to step away and resolve them in my own time. To which I did, and continue to use those tools to this day to great effect. Life’s little moments from Bro and PRES that make us the men (and women – not forgetting our PRES 6th Form ladies) we are today. Lessons for the real world, which he planted the seeds of in our minds, and let us grow and evolve them to our lives – for me in particular, self-confidence with humility, empathy with sensibility, diligence with discipline, and respect with reciprocity. RIP Bro, your legacy has multiplied over the years with generations of PRES men and women, and it is no exaggeration to say that it has extended to all reaches of the Earth. Along with me, my wife and family thank you for your impact on a once troubled 17 year old! On another note, anyone with a copy of the VHS videotape from that Retreat weekend that has so mysteriously disappeared over the years, please bring it forward!
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 07:47:59 +0000
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