Garfield Ekon
Staff Writer
Exercise your control and power in your jurisdictions correctly, was the advice given to the Speakers and Overseas Tertiaries Speakers Conference, by Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Edwin A. Astwood.
Mr. Astwood in urging the Speakers not to lose themselves “notwithstanding your emotions,” conflict, Ideas, and political affiliations, he said the wind can bend “you like hurtful words,” but they will only overcome them by becoming flexible.
“The rigidity of the ground will prevent you from expanding, like the structures that design the systems in your countries, but with patience, you will always find the cracks through which to extend your being,” he said.
The Leader of the Opposition added that sometimes the Speakers will face storms, and some lightning will fall “very close to you,” but they should ride out those storms, as he have “lived it, and I have been in those storms,” and in each storm there is a new hope, as well as with persistence, self-confidence, flexibility, and recognising what the world gives them.
“Strength is something that is built with inner integrity, and with the ability to control oneself against the forces of the world. Integrity Fortitude grants power not to control what surrounds you, but to awaken the power over yourself, and to control what is in you,” he said.
Adding further, Mr. Ashwood argued that it is essential to move move forward, and recognise that power is the product of potential, and it only arises from the energy that lies within them, and not from the things they get from outside.
“I want to encourage all of you to build your inner power from the strength of your integrity, which will, in turn, allow for the generation of a movement of conscious beings that can transform reality,” Mr. Ashwood told his audience.
