Submitted by Charles Knighton

Page four of the Sunday Sun featured a brief article in which former British gangster and cocaine addict Davey Falcus, now a religious minister, exhorted students gathered at the NCSA headquarters  to “live a good life based on Christian values, morals and ethics” and to “maintain a personal relationship with God.”  While strong moral and ethical values are indeed important, of equal importance though unmentioned, is the value of being able to change one’s life and perception of the world through learning.

Mr Falcus told students that “my background is that I organized crime. I grew up in a violent environment and I had a choice but I chose to go down this road. ” From gangster to minister: you are what you choose to learn.  If all you know is how to be a gang member, that’s what you’ll be, at least until you learn something else. If you study law, you’ll see the world as a competition. If you study engineering, you’ll start to see the world as a complicated machine that needs tweaking.

A person changes at a fundamental level as he or she merges, whether formally or informally, with a particular field of knowledge. If you don’t like who you are, you have the option of learning until you become someone else. There’s almost nothing you can’t learn your way out of.

Life is like a jail with an unlocked, heavy door. You’re free the moment you realize the door will open if you simply make the effort to lean into it. With very few exceptions, Barbadians clamoring for government to push the door open for them should take note.