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“The idea that sex is something a woman gives a man, and she loses something when she does that, which again for me is nonsense. I want us to raise girls differently where boys and girls start to see sexuality as something that they own, rather than something that a boy takes from a girl.”

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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Kindness in Jamaica

Mr. Brown is a man in his seventies with two small boys to manage. Sometimes he is unable to send them to school or provide a night's meal. He comes to my home two miles away for monetary assistance to buy the chicken back and rice that have become so expensive for poor people. 

I give to him not because I have a lot but because I know what it feels like to have nothing. I know about hunger and I have experienced lack and poverty. 

People think that kindness will be misinterpreted as weakness. They are afraid to give because they believe that people will live "pon them". 

I saw a little boy and began to tell him about school and pursuing his education.  He later came back to see me primarily because I had spoken to him and ask me for a lunch money. I gave it to him and explain to him that I might not have it all the time but when I do, I will assist him. I did not want to give him the impression that I will always be there for him.-after all I am not his parent. 

I realized that his mother insisted that he ask me for things. I could not understand which parent would encourage their child  to actively beg others. 

I concluded that this mother did not understand what she was teaching these children to do. She was inadvertently and probably intentionally telling her little boy to prey on those that she perceives to be wealthy or possess in abundance.

Now I understand why people are reluctant to be generous. We are socialized to think that another's wealth or success is our entitlement through proxy or association. 

This type of mindset is what breeds the criminal culture. Sense of entitlement without diligence to the accomplishment of others. 

I have often found it difficult to find angel investors for people in my funding network because Jamaicans have a bad association with money. They see money as being more dear than life itself and find it very difficult to be part with it. 

They are also very apprehensive about giving away their money that they worked very hard for to some else so that they can pursue their goals without much hard work. 

They believe that poor people should wrestle their way out of their grotesque roads and ugly architecture only then will they assist them or give them any of their money. They will praise them when they have achieved and not before. 

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