Kind of a " the glass is half empty perception". It all depends on how you look at it. It's still my paradise, and that's all that matters.
Kind of a " the glass is half empty perception". It all depends on how you look at it. It's still my paradise, and that's all that matters.
a few thoughts,,,,
Coleen and I are driving to Dunns River quite a few years ago on the old road, as we passed Discovery Bay C said we have to have that picture - the multi colored water was gorgeous, but as we drove we also observed the small and by our standards rough houses along the road, as we made our way back to MoBay I spotted a rough sand road that would take us to some cliffs overlooking C's have to have picture, at the end of the brush wiping on the side of our jeep trail we came out into a clearing with one of the wood houses sitting in it, as C got out to take the picture I got out to say thank you to the homeowner for letting us use your picture platform and I began to notice,,,,,, garden with onions tomatos peppers, lime tree, banana tre, mango tree in a oh so beautifal quiet setting looking out over the "I have to have that picture" setting,,,,, and as I got closer to the house I noticed the owner sitting on the cliffs edge with a cane pole type stick and string fishing rig and as we said hi he held up a group of fish gilled over a cut tree limb,,,,,,, and in that moment it hit me, who is richer, me that does not see my house in light during the winter because I leave for work before sun up and work till after dark or he that tended his garden today and is out catching his supper in the most beautifal picture of our day. Paradise life maybe no, but definately has it's rewards.
Coinmon about 95 or 6. "What made you make the jump to the Island,,," , answer (as best I remember) " I was a jeweler in Des Moines and realized that I was never going to set the world on fire and make a fotune, I looked at living in Jamaica and realized that I would never set the world on fire and make a fortune there,,,,,, then I looked out my Des Moines window at a grey cold leafless colorless Feb afternoon and I remembered the sun and greens and aquamarine blues and that was my deciding factor,,,," . All things considered the weather is what made paradise for him. I should note that after some health issues he has returned to the states.
Fidel and myself sitting and talking after a day of fighting post Ivan (the storm) issues at the orchard in the hills. I sympathized with his issues and he looked at me and said (to paraphrase) "Chet I know you have employee issues and cash flow issues and business issues that consume your time 12 hours a day also, I have my issues, differant worlds differant issues but really when it comes down to the man the same stress". So right Fidel.
One thing that I have noticed in Jamaica and granting that it is "living life rough" is that those that have aspirations and dreams can achieve them through hard work. IMHO this would have to be observed away from the beach over many years of visiting the same people in the same neighborhood, I have seen very humble beginnings turn into some beautifal lives.
I was sitting on the front of a drop bed semi trailer yesterday running generators and sound board for a guy named Jake McVey (jakemcvey.com) participating in the Tri-State Rodeo parade and in my mind I was drifting,,,, I'm tired it's been a summer long stretch of festivals, shows and fairs, it seems like I have done this 18 years in a row, when I read obits those folks in their 80's seemed awful far away a few years ago and now they seem way to close,,,,,,,, and Jake broke into a song "The Best Days of Our Lives" and even though he is using a relationship as the focus he hit the chorus "these are the best days of our lives the ones that we didn't think we would survive the ones that turn into memories these are the best days of our years be it the laughter or the tears,,,,,,, and I thought to myself, hmmmmmm Chet maybe you should dwell on being thankful and quit counting the downsides,,,,,,
I have won many awards in a lifetime of competition and service. But the highest was offered without plaque or fanfare on a hilltop in post Ivan Jamaica. A true Rasta and a dear friend observed "Chet you are like a father of men, you see need and fulfill that need without being asked". Let us be travelers and not tourist.
Nice post, Chet!! :-)
Yes Chet, It is a nice post..
" Ones destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things." (Henry Miller)
I guess we have not figured out that paradise is not a place but a state of mind....I cannot agree that tourist are bad. I have traveled around several if The Islands and one thing they have in common for sure is poverty. A commonanality with that is forget tourism but look at some failed industry....Sugar is the one that comes to mind first...In the early part of the 20th Century sugar cane was grown all over the Caribbean and sent to be refined and sold to candy makers and soft drink companies. Lots of it sold by the pound in the stores... Several years ago sugar became evil and the market crashed as corn became a supplier for sweetners in candy and soda..
Then baxuite found it's way to the market to make aluminum...This created mining and very ugly country sides but much like Disney Land folks stood in line to get a job in the cane fields and in the bauxite mines. It was the Jamaican Tourist Board that really made Tourism jump with those "Come back to Jamaica" ads... Tourism is not all bad and can add money to a failing economy and give jobs that get you more than a pass on Space Mountain...I was in Jamaica this summer and traveled intothe mountains to a pretty good size town called Browns Town...no reason to go there other than see a Jamaica that you don't see on Beach Road. while riding up there the driver had a different view of tourism tha the folks on here that the folks that jump on the charter and run up and down Negril Beach...He pointed out that much of the activity we saw at the largest open market I have ever see was due to the jobs
BE A TRAVELR
Guess I'm a tourist, because to me, Jamaica IS paradise.
I can't fix that. I can, however, see that some people in Negril have a good 10 days each Jan./Feb. We don't live destructively while we are there, and we leave our money behind when we come back home.
I hear that.
improvise & overcome
I'm waiting on The Dead Yard from my library.
A few years ago I really enjoyed this book, you might also, A_J:
http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Paradise-.../dp/0822958236
jasperpso, you couldn't have said that better.
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