I was between six (6) years and seven (7) years when my paternal grandfather, the only living grandparent then, called me and my siblings to the home of another son of his. It was close to Christmas. He began handing his other grandchildren what seemed like mountains of gifts. We got excited. We had never before gotten anything from my father’s relations. For the first time, it would be our turn to receive. Why else would he have called us? We kept smiling, watching, and waiting for our turn for our gifts.

When the gifts were shared, our grandfather turned to us and said, “None for you all. You all are the black set.” (My mother, the same race as my father was, has darker skin colour than my father’s.) As the tears rolled down our cheeks, we hurried out of that house and ran home in tears.

Seeing us in such a tormented state and hearing what happened, mom vowed that will not happen to us again. My mother has little formal education beyond early high school. So, she quickly found a second sugar cane field to work at from the next month. Then, mom made three (3) saving pans from orange juice cans for each of us. From each pay from that second job, mom added funds to exceed her gift-giving and treats the next Christmas.

🗝WHO are you holding back in their career or even in your personal relationships?

🗝WHAT are your motivations for withholding good from others? Envy? Greed? Prejudices? …

🗝HOW do you withhold good from others? Gifts? Your network to help someone progress? Lower salary? Ambiguous guidance? Not sharing the limelight? Spreading untruths of someone? …