As the Boys and Girls Champs came to a close and Wolmer’s Boys and Homewood Girls ran unto the field, the winners of the 100th anniversary of Champs; a single tear slipped out of the corner of my eyes. The memory of years spent at Wolmer’s flooded my brain as I recalled my years as a student at the prestigious school and the lessons that I learnt.

Ms. Pinto, our English Head Mistress, who not only ruled with an iron fist, but also lived on the property to ensure the safety of all the students, instilled in us to exceed at everything. Now, as a grown woman, I had to ask myself, “Was my school motto, (Age Quod Agis); to do whatever you do well, being accomplished by living in another man’s country?” Did I cheat myself and my country by leaving?

The competitors, especially the girls, with many pulled off the field on stretchers, reminded me that I was a Caribbean woman; full of hope and many talents. Wolmer’s , incidentally, was the very first school to win Champs so it was fitting that they should win this 100th Games. This experience, while it served as a reminder of the resiliency of the Jamaican people, the rich ancestry of my past, and the never say die attitude of all Jamaicans; also allowed me to examine myself and really ask, “Would I be living in Beverly Hills like so many others my age on the island?”

“Sandy, yu caan really look at it that way,” a native Jamaican friend of mine said to me while discussing the issue. “The fact is that your family made that decision for you at the time because they thought it was best for you. You cannot change the past.” he said. “Good for him to say,” I thought to myself, as he was the same age as myself, with a top position on the island. He also had disclosed that the minute he graduated from the Ivy League school that he had attended in the U.S., he had “his Doctorate in one hand and a one way ticket back home in the other.”

Who is to say where you would be if you had stayed in your own country, after your years of High School? Maybe, yes, as my cousin said, “Sandy, yu would have definitely landed one of those big jobs deh man.” Or maybe I would have ended up working in the bank, using my O Levels, as it was called back then, to at least position myself for somewhat of a stable future.

No one is to say of course, but the ever present thought in my head, similar to the other oldies sitting in the stadium in all our respective school ties and belts, squeezing into shirts that no longer fit, was where did all the years go and if only I could do it all over again?

The choice to leave one’s own country is never easy; the road is unknown and the way uncertain. Yet, the decision to leave and to live in a foreign land, will not only erase many memories of your past life but also rob you of the opportunity to grow as an adult in an environment that is your own; hence making you unsure of your capabilities and your own God given talents. Your footprints are etched in your own country’s soil, so understandable it will allow you to prosper.

Our successes on the world stage, whether you chose to leave or become a “foreigner,” as someone called me while on the island, reflects our Ashanti tribe attributes; given to us by our forefathers. We are warriors and will forever strive for the best. In the words of my Wolmer’s school motto, passed down from generations I say to you, “Age Quod Agis”; whatever you do, do it well. Hopefully I am living up to my potential!