And they said write stories...People will relate more...Lessons will get across.

I was encourage a few a years ago to start writing from a story perspective instead of commentary for people could relate more.

When i wrote the article "How we can save Jamaica's Young Men", i wanted to expose a situation from a personal point of view. I do know an absentee father is not the suffice reason to justify criminality. My father does not know his father, i do not know my grandfather or any of my father's paternal relatives for that matter. My father is not a bad man or a thief and he said it is not that he could not have gone that route but he chose not to for he loved my grandmother and he saw her struggle to make ends meet for him to ever break her heart by following bad company.

I met this young man once. It was rainy evening after school and i love to talk. I love to share what i know for i believe others can benefit from enlightenment. I was talking to a schoolmate. I was in forth form and he in the sixth form. We are from the same community and he is not a bad boy, he knows of no father and today he is a successful banker in America. The boys i went to school with, the smartest boy in my class were homes without a father. I know dysfunctional people from completely stable family backgrounds.

These are the stories that should be shared so that boys know that people from their background do make it. I once said to a young man that i was not given any more or less opportunities than any of us. We are where we are because of choice.

I was not trying to justify anything. I clearly said no one owes them anything that they should try to do the best with their lives. Stop saying mommy never have it or the politician do not care. Your life is your responsibility. Start thinking for yourself and do not allow others to "programme" you. Read and find the truth for yourself instead of subscribing to the secondary information by people who hardly know more than you. You do not need to be bad to earn respect. That is what i tell them not that people should feel sorry for gunmen who do not show anyone mercy. I judge too. I look at boys on the street and clutch my purse tighter. I thought really hard before writing this article. I knew some people will see it like i was asking them to feel sorry for any bad man. That was not my intent...But to each his own. I am not what happened to me. I am what i have become. I am who i choose to be. That's what the mirror keeps saying to me.