I CAN....yes I can

I just had such a wonderful epiphany, that I thought I would share it with everyone.

This past week, I had been visiting a school in St. Lucia and talking to the youngsters about believing in themselves and having a dream for their life.

One of the phrases I used for them was that they are “can do” people…that when anyone tells them they can’t, in the words of Samuel Jackson, they should “knock the “t” out of can’t”. During the question and answer session, Robin, who wants to be a teacher, asked me to explain what I meant about knocking the “t” off. So I went to the Blackboard and wrote the words, “I can’t”. Then I asked her to knock off the letter “t” and she had an “aha” moment, when she realized that she was left with the words, “I can”. Another bright young man reminded me at that point, that I also needed to remove the apostrophe (so much for brilliant minds).

This made me even more aware that children are very visual people…..they learn much better if you can show it to them. I now feel confident that this group of youngsters, who had dreams of becoming a veterinarian, pediatrician (she actually said a doctor for children), teacher, female firefighter, engineer, and of entering other noble professions, would forever remember those two little words….I CAN, and would be able to make their dreams a reality.

A few days later, I heard Victoria Osteen (June 12) giving the sermon at Lakewood Church, (I believe, it may have been her first, and she talked about her fears when her husband first asked her to take over at the Offertory after the death of his father, and her anxieties before getting up in front of the congregation that morning. She quoted the bible verse Phil 4:13, that says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, and talked about "God is an "I can" God, and that he wants us to be "I can" people. For me, that was not a coincidence, but confirmation that this is a message that I must continue to give to young people. Moreso, I have not seen the Joel Osteen Sunday program for several weeks now, because I have changed the time that I go to Sunday mass. However, yesterday, I decided to go the later children’s Mass as I wanted to meet up with someone. That, to me, was not a coincidence.

To continue the story, this morning I was on the patio as usual for my morning prayer and meditation. When I was done, I looked across the lawn and saw, to my great surprise, that there were 2 red plums on the plum tree. I was happily surprised for I love red plums (not the same as in the US). I rushed outside, and very gingerly found my way to the plum tree, so I could pick those plums before the birds got them. I plucked them from the tree, but they were both inedible.

I was extremely disappointed. I turned around to go back down the slight slope, and suddenly, fear seized me and I could not move. I stood there in the awkward position of one knee bent in front of the other for a minute or two. Then I looked around to see where was the easiest point to descend. It seemed like it was all the same…too far away. At that point my imagination took over, and I saw myself stuck in that awkward position until help came, and possibly getting caught in a rain shower, as the grass was still wet from an earlier shower. I called to my sister and her husband, but no-one could hear me; they probably were still asleep. Then courage slowly washed over me as I began repeating to myself softly, “yes I can”, “yes I can”. I uttered those words before taking each step back to the walkway, and sure enough I was soon there. I was sure happy to get back on ‘terra firma’, but even happier that this small incident could have taught me such a big lesson.

So, I am ready to shout out “YES I CAN” to whoever will listen. It is a bold reminder that all of those new goals that I want to achieve, I can. I can climb any mountain and so can you. I made my descent from the mountain of FEAR, and so can you.

My hubscore is 97 and I know that I can make the perfect score…100. I also know for sure, that I can earn money as a writer, and I am not talking about SEOs and clicks.

President Barack Obama understood the power of those three little words, “yes we can” when he used then as the slogan for his election campaign. It’s a pity that he’s stopped using them now.