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Editorial - The way we were

28.09.2009

I have been reading through the back issues of The Far East magazine looking for an article to be included on page 22. Jamaica's caste system in the January/February 1990 issue jumped out at me. I had been in the country a couple of years when Fr Robert Conley wrote the article.

It made me think of a Jamaican lawyer who asked me in the parish of Reading one night how I liked Jamaica? His question came at an inopportune time because I was simmering about something and I replied, "I don't find Jamaicans very friendly." This was not the answer he was expecting and we had a good conversation after that exchange of remarks.

He was an international lawyer who like so many Jamaicans had made his way in the world by hard work and natural intelligence. He told me that his grandmother remembers the stories of her slave grandmother and added, 'Perhaps the boot of the slave overseer on the front verandah at 4:00am in the morning was still fresh in the memories of people today.'
Which makes, 'Do this in memory of me' like a fresh thought of just yesterday.

Fr Gary Walker
TFE@columban.org.au

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Holy Father's Missionary Intention for February:"That in the mission territories where the struggle against disease is most urgent, Christian communities may witness to the presence of Christ to those who suffer."

Editorial - The way we were

Holy Father's Missionary Intention for February:

"That in the mission territories where the struggle against disease is most urgent, Christian communities may witness to the presence of Christ to those who suffer."