Dear Editor,
Because it takes so long for Sint Maarten to rebuilt after Irma and Maria and because it has been and continues to be politics as usual , (toppling of government, political campaigning and elections in the midst of everyone's calamity and because every day I see someone either walking with some household article (fan, microwave) over the street, I take a moment to realize how fortunate I am.
If what I gathered from the TV, the newspaper and other media is accurate I am very fortunate. I must start by mentioning that I have never paid for any kind of class education . I cannot say I have never literally paid for education, because I always buy the paper and I also read books that I pay for. By the way I was paid in the academy. I consider myself fortunate because I woke up this morning with more health than illness. I have food on my table and clothing on my back and a roof over my head, which is better than 75 per cent of the world.
There are a whole lot who cannot hold up their head and smile, because they despair. I have never had to endure the fear of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment nor the agony of torture, which according to statistics is better than 700 million people in the world. My parents are not alive but their presence has never left me. I can attend church without fear of death, harassment or arrest, which about three billion people in the world cannot declare.
Because I can read I am aware that I am blessed. I am also blessed because somewhere someone is thinking of me as special. I am aware and in so being am even more grateful for not being among those more than two billion people in the world who cannot read. I am using my laptop, a device which only 1 per cent of the world population can afford.
I am fortunate and can sing Hallelujah, but I will not lose sight of the fact that I live in a hurricane belt and must constantly ask the Lord for protection from natural disasters. Can I suggest that in these days we say an extra prayer for our Minister of Education in his quest to get those 44 teachers. He already has his education, so let us help him in his struggles to pave a path for the children.
I came across a saying which I think is great in general. “A man who pays respect to the great is paving the way for his own greatness.”
Russell A. Simmons
