My delight was at its pic this Sunday morning in Lauderhill, Florida, when I joined my high school friend, Bruner Remy, and his spouse, Cathy Remy, in launching their South Florida ministry : Glory Center Church. 

It is always my pleasure to be part of a kickoff movement. It’s constantly a sublime moment to partake in a commencement, see a dream come to true, initiate a story, and construct a narrative with a community towards a future destination.

This was what I felt this morning when I left home to respond to a cordial invitation from Remy Brumer adressing to his friends living in South Florida.

When I put the address in my GPS, the directions indicated I would be there in 12 minutes from home. It’s pretty close.

It was 9:08 am when I opened the door. The ambiance has already been set. Hymns, gospel songs were crashing out glory, and praise through the speakers.

The audience, mostly women and kids as it is in the black community church in general, responded enthusiastically as a choir with clapping, singing “Alleluia, Amen” accompanied by a systhetizer, and a battery set.

The Remy’s hit the podium with zeal, conviction, and dedication. They were outstanding.

Wearing a traditional swahili kanga, the First Lady, Cathy, introduced her pastor, friend, husband with posture, and grace.

Bruner, in a full long sleeves white kanzu, started with a low tone telling his tale answering “God’s call to be in ministry,” after an elapse of 18 years.

“This was not part of my plan to get involved in active ministry,” he said pointing out that his initial background was in business not in theology.

Desperate for a change

His message was about change. His style was charismatic, enthusiastic, and participative.

“2019 is my year of change,” he proclaimed with a higher voice asking the assembly to repeat after him.

And the assembly repeated sentence after sentence while brother Remy was pacing from left to right from the front.

“This is not my new year resolution, but a change of mindset. This is my attitude adjustment. My attitude determines my altitude.
I am the change I’m seeking for . It’s my time now.”

I was taking notes. I was not part of the repeating squad, but I could feel his vibration, his momentum, and his passion growing into his message that he presented in 4 segments.

1. Vision. A man without vision is without future. 
2. Motivation. Disposition . Positive Attitude. Your attitude determines how far you’ll go. Read. Who are motivating you? What you listen to can contaminate you. Get control of your environment.
3. Action. Do something about it. Not just talking. It’s action time. Just do it. Even if you fail, you’re not a failure.
4. Persistence. Faith. Persistence breaks resistence. Be prepared for the test, and the pain. No pain no gain.

I could write a blog post about each segment of this content from what I have listened and noted from apostle Bruner Remy. But, I would prefer to give you the opportunity to discover yourself the depht of his sermons.

He quoted the ancient testament from the Kings, the new testament about Jesus minstry as related in the Gospel of Luc. He even repeated ex President Barack Obama telling his fellow citizens to “be the change they want to see,” even if I would prefer to see this csaying attributed to Ghandi.

I was thrilled, pumped, and excited to listen to Brother Remy. Having known him from high school, I can see how he has evolved to become a great speaker, a great man working to leave a legacy for God’s glory.

He had good vocal variety diving a low tone to gather full attention, and climbing to a high pitch to excite his audience. His body movement, gestures, eye contact were on point. He paused when he wanted to make a point, and walked faster when he wanted total command of presence.

I know a good speaker when I saw one. And Remy is a good one.

This is an experience to make. If you are in South Florida next Sunday, I invite you to associate with the Glory Center Church and share your part of twinkling contentment, and soul activating grace.

I also hope that, pretty soon, GCC will have technological ways and means to brodcast its content for a larger audience to stream.

I was so glad to be there at the launching, and enjoyed every drop of the moment.

Keep up!

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The Power Pendulum swang to the far right of coercion at the inception of the nation building of Haiti. The earliest haitian administrations were engraved with abundant coercion as the new state absorbed its new constituents into its force realm.

What would the economy of the new nation look kike after independence? The march from slavery to freedom left its mark on the organization of the new state, and its citizenry. Before independence, Toussaint Louverture led a military regime and chose to continue the plantation system to prove to the world that economic productions can be sustained without slavery.

Dessalines followed the economic and agricultural policies set up by Toussaint. He used the army to force ex-slave laborers to work on the platations. This represented forced labor practices of the old regime and created conflicts in the building of the new state of Haiti’s new order.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines became inevitably the first in command. He led the black and mulatto forces to victory againt the Napoleonic army. He became chief of the new state as the most powerful man in the new nation. He took successively the titles of commander in chief, governor-general, head of state, emperor, giving himself the right to select his succesor.

As a military ruler, he was supported by fellow ex-slaves turned to be military generals of the revolutionnary army.

The plantation economy against individual liberty

There were two dominant thoughts in the power pendulum swinging in the buiding of the new nation: the plantation economy, and individual liberty.
Dessalines had total control of the state military force.

Those who opposed and resisted his commands were sanctioned, and put to death. His regime the forced labor practices of the past. He chosed to be on the side of the elite, and the wealthy landowners by upholding large properties and the export agricultural system.

The fight for independence should have shifted the center of liberty from society as a whole to the individual as a unit created by God to fullfill its destiny.

The worldview concepts and ideas in the moment were about liberty, equality, brotherhood, happiness, property, ownership. It was at the moment mainstream thought individual’s rights and responsibilities precede society’s settlement as a whole in which powerful rulers decide their might is right.

The mass of ex-slaves became citizens. As a whole, they had a territory to defend, and a nation to build. But, each one was a unique human being with specific gift, talent, and ability.

Each one wanted to be free to own his parcel of land to grow crops, to satisfy his need and his family’s; and not to be forced to continue working on a plantation under a new military regime similar the the old one to export sugar and coffee.

Economist Murray Rothbard wrote: “the glory of the human race is the uniqueness of each individual, the fact that every person, though similar in many other ways to others, posseses a completetly individuated personality of his own.” (1)

When individuals prosper; families, societies and nations prosper. Haitian people did not want to be mere objects to be used for the state’s or society’s ends which were profiting a tiny elite.

As Orrin Woodward wrote : “liberty has its limit, since a person does not have the liberty to deny others their liberty. The goal of a free society is to provide liberty and justice for all members to grow, and benefit from their gifts, talents and purpose.” (2)

The sense of unity, created in 1804 with a brod coalition of freedom fighters, did not last. The power pendulum oscillated throgh competing social forces and tensions emcompassing land ownership and power control. The power pendulum could not be remained in the middle where concord balanced coercion and chaos.

Dessalines ‘s regime unraveled in a situation where the oligarchy elite of the mulatoes and black generals of the army wanted total control and the masses of laborers wanted total freedom.

The affranchis, most of them of a lighter complexion, the coloured men had been on the side. They were most cultured, and educated, and preferred a shared power system with a legislature. There was no formal opposition. The strategy learned to change a government was creating chaos through armed revolt.

Dessalines was assassinated. The country was divided in two camps with each one a ruler: Petion in the West, and Christophe in the North.

Haitian Politics -throughout history- present a dichotomy of twose two groups fighting to have power for themselves and for the betterment of their own tribes.

(1) Murray Rothbard, “Freedom, Inequality, Primitivism and the Division of Labor.”

(2) Orrin Woodward “And Justice for All, The Quest for Concord.”

I was driving with my high school friend Denis Evens last Saturday in South Beach Miami when we finally found a parking space to drop our car and go for a walk, grab a bite, and talk as we usually do.

Leaving the parking lot, a security guard adressed us in Creole with his open arms welcoming us in this beautiful, cosmopolitan, and touristic area: “Mesye sa nap fè pou peyi-a?” –

Hey guys, what are you doing for the country?”, he asked us.

“Kiyès ladan yo: isit la osnon laba-a?” – Which country? Here or there?” I interjected.

“Haiti,” he replied back with a bright haitian  smile.

Evens asked him before we stopped at the street corner “what do you want us to do”? (Sa’w vle nou fè?).

He approached closer to us, told us his name is Delorme, and said “I don’t know, we have to do something… we have to do something…” (M pa konnen. Fo’k nou fè yon bagay).

Our conversation with Deslormes lasted less than 2 minutes just the time for us to wait for the lights to turn green, and cross the street going on our way to have some food and celebrate our retrouvailles and reminiscences.

It’s always a pleasure to spend time with some high school classmates. We can go back and retell our stories, and restart our projection of dreams and imagination for the future.

I am sitting at home today and reviewing this conversation with Deslormes which I want to put in in perspectives of my research on a systematic approach to bring ideas for a call of leadership in Haiti to stop the decline, and start the climb. 

This is what I call HAITISHIFT which is the subject of my new publication to be released in 2019.

215 years in search of concord

It has been 215 years ago on a January 1st like today, Haitians started a new nation. For the last 215 years, Haiti has been on an enigmatic pursuit, a long search, and an insatiable quest to establish a state of peace, harmony, and concord instead of tyranny, chaos, and “krazebrize.”

Why do we fall again and again into the same old patterns, and traps our ancestors did? Why do the more things change, the more they stay the same? Why can’t we understand the same causes will always produce the same effects? Why do we want to prove others wrong in continuing doing the samething and expecting new results? What can we do to reverse, and stop the current of decline, and start the climb and the ascendence to the top?

To answer those questions, I am using a systemic approach based on the scholarship and the creative mind of New York Times Bestselling author Orrin Woodward who defined the “quest for concord,” as that “idyllic state of affairs in which neither tyranny reigns nor chaos rules.”

I am also reviewing a trajectory of the haitian history under the miscroscope of Woodward’s Power Pendulum construct in an attempt to better understand the rapport de force within the haitian society and its relation with the rest of the world from its inception to now.

James G. Leybun, in his book The Haitian People, defined Haitian politics as “complicated.”

“It’s complicated,” Leyburn said “not only in the sequence of events, but in the intertwining of color, caste, sectionalism, education.”

Haitians destroyed by force the slave system and created a new state. The former slaves had least prepation for governement, leadership, and buiilding institutions to regulate economic life, social interactions.

There were no guides, no blueprints, no models upon which the free blacks, and mulattoes would relay to build the new black nation in America.

But today, after 215 years, we are assured that we can do better to solve the quest for concord by studying and identifying the Power Pendulum in action. We can seek long term systemic solutions to our woes avoiding superficial quick fixes, social band-aids.

The Pendulum in Action

Few Civilizations in history achieve concord. The crux of the matter is how much force a free society needs to apply to maintain justice, creates, and accumulates wealth for the betterment of its citizenry.

Orrin Woodward, argues that “When too much force is applied, freedom is lost as society falls into coercion by all-powerful rulers.” On the other hand, he affirms “when too much freedom is given, justice is lost as society falls into the chaos of competing factions fighting for control.”

Haiti’s ability to create the proper balance of force and freedom has been foiled. We have been oscillating with two main ideas acted upon within a minority 10% of the population. 90 per cent of the whole population being mostly absent, and unconcerned with politics, and the state organization.

Those two main constructs are the following: Nationalists and Liberals. Nationalists apply extreme force, constraints to assume power, and total control. Their motto “Power to the greatest number.” Their most prominent leaders are Dessalines, Crhistophe, Soulouque, Alexis, Salomon… Liberals control with apparent freedom. Their line of sponsorship regroups Petion, Boyer, Canal, Dartiguenave, Lescot…

In one or another case, the masses are not integrated in the system. With the Nationalists, the 90% are plundered under cealeless forced labor for the benefit of the military ruling class. with the liberals, the 90% do not participate in the welath creation, and lost their appetite for work.

Haiti will improve when it has identified a leadership scoreboard of enough leaders, a good 10% of its population to learn the appropriate lessons from history and orient the 90% in the right direction. The Power Pendulum is a great mechanism, and a useful instrument to facilitate the learning process.

It is Georges Santayana, reasoning on reason, and common sense, who stated that “Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Our most important weapon today to win the battle of concord, and a just society, is knowledge. Ignorance is our biggest enemy.

When the going gets tough, the posers are exposed, and the tough gets going.

Winners don’t quit, and quitters don’t win.

I just woke up. I went to use the bathroom, looked at myself in the mirror, and told myself I have to tell you that story.
This is our Thanksgiving road trip story. A story of the car we drove, the accident we were saved from a big truck, and the cold we endured during a 14 hours’ drive trip.
I am sitting at the basement of the Joly’s home. On the sparkle wood floor, I picked up my phone and laid it on a small round table which contains a piece of bread in a transparent plastic bag, lying side by side to a half full bottle of purified water, and a container of meds filled of drugs with specific ones for each day of the week.
All around me was beauty as I was recollecting my long last day.
The house was silent. Everyone was still sleeping. I was searching for a piece of paper to write, and decided to write my story on my phone, and post it on my blog. Just for you.
It’s almost 10:00 am this Thursday Thanksgiving in Fayetteville, GA, where I have been since early this morning after a long…. long drive from my home in Tamarac, with a stop in Tallahassee, where I have to pick up Axel, my other son.
I left Tamarac Wednesday at 4:30 pm. I drove my 1999 Jeep, instead of the black S-500 Mercedes, or renting a car. I was with Mariejo, my wife, and Jonathan, my son. Jonathan left his job early, parked his car in our home, to drive with us. Cassy, my daughter, did not want to come.
I filled up the Jeep at the Marathon gas station on Commercial Boulevard and 70th Ave. I liked the price: $2:35 for a gallon of ‘unleaded 87.’ 
Everything went well even if Marijo did not like my idea to drive the Jeep for this trip.
“Every time I am in this car, I feel anxious, my heart races,” she said with an air of disappointment.
She wanted me to rent a car as we usually do for such a long trip. But, I did not want arguing about how much money it will cost us for this weekend.
I know the Jeep can make the trip pretty well.
The traffic was very hectic on Turnpike going North. “Heavy traffic, expect delays,” we read this message on some electronic signs every 2-3 miles. We moved bumper to bumper, very slowly, a pas de tortue. It took us almost 2 hours from Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach. This is a half hour commute on normal time.
The Jeep is the car I drive every day. I like it. It has 273786 miles on the speedometer. It runs well,but has some issues I learn to deal with. 

It sometimes overheats when the radiator fan does not work well. I have witnessed how Frantz, my mechanic, fixed it a couple of times by adjusting the power box. That’s the main issue. The tires are good, I’ve bought recently some second hand ones and have them balanced. The engine is strong, and the transmission has a slow delay when I make a left turn. Besides that, this Jeep takes me anywhere in Florida. The trunk is filled with all my tools. I have what I need in there. And I like it.
But, the Jeep has some issues. Issues that do not bother me. It has no radio (no radio, no problem. I can use my cell phone and the Sony Bluetooth headset Jonathan gave me.) The gas fuel gauge is always on empty, The Jeep has no cigarette lighter that I could use as a car charger for my phone. (No car charger, no problem. I can manage my phone energy between my audio listening, GPS, and phone checking….)
The Jeep AC has one control: full cold blast. (No Ac control, no problem. It’s South Florida, it’s supper hot most of the time, full blast AC makes it cool very quick.) But, the full time, full blast AC fan produces a weird noise inside the Jeep that I don’t like at all. I tolerate and learn to drive with having most of the time my headset on listening to my self-development audios.
This is the Jeep I will take my wife and two sons for this thanksgiving roadtrip.
I turned the AC off shortly after Port Saint-Lucie. It was just a little hot, but I could stand it. I solved two issues: the AC fan weird noise, and the full blast cold air it was pushing for the last 3 hours straight to my right hand holding the wheel. 

Marijo and Jonathan said nothing, and I kept going North.

The temperature was 68 F. It was 78 in Tamarac when we left. We made our first stop at Fort Pierce rest area. There was no place to park. 
“There are a lot of people here,” Marijo said.  Iis this the way it is normally or is it for Thanksgiving?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied, looking for an empty space to park the Jeep.
Mariejo and Jonathan got off and rushed to the restrooms. I finally found a spot far away from the entrance.
I walked in. People were getting in and out of the facility as a beehive. Some were sitting eating, others stood in line to order; kids were running around. People looked happy. Their mood showed so. Couples were walking hand in hand. The fun was contagious. And I slowed my walk to grab Marijo’s hand while waiting for Jonathan to show up.
We continued our way up North. The farther we drove North, the lower the temperature became, and the less fuel we had in our tank.
The gas light was on all the time, I finally filled up again on I10 at a Busy Bee Station. Jonathan went inside to purchase coffee. He gave me one cup and he took turns driving all the way on I 10 until we reached Tallahassee to pick up Axel.
When Axel came, he did not keep things for himself. He started talking right away. He doesn’t like the Jeep. He knows everything about the Jeep. He failed his first driving test on the Jeep. He passed his 2nd driving test on the Jeep. He ran out of gas – a ‘pan’n gaz’- with the Jeep. He had his time with the Jeep overheating while getting back to school. He knows everything wrong about the Jeep and always question the validity of this car.
“Hey, you come with this car. Do you really think this car can make the trip?” he asked.
Jonathan started laughing. Mariejo started talking about the car as well, saying she knew about my choice at the last moment. 

Axel managed to get on the car in the back seat. His legs are too long to have a comfortable good sit behind Jonathan.
I set up my GPS from Tallahassee To Fayetteville, GA. Siri told us it will take 4:18hours and we will go through US 27.
I was in the front passenger seat. John was driving. Axel was in the back with Mariejo.
We were followed the GPS. It was totally dark outside. Tallahassee is a dead city after 11:00 pm.
We were approaching a small bridge on old Bainbridge Road at the intersection of US 27. My eyes were on my cell phone following the GPS trajectory of the road and paying attention its recommendation.
Siri told us to make a slight left at the intersection where our road merged with US 27. I told Jonathan to turn left. He was hesitant and started a complete left turn going in reverse way of us 27.
I heard him say “no, it’s a wrong way.” He made a swift change. It was a less than 2-3 second decision. All I saw, in that split second, was a heavy truck passing close to us as a flash light. I heard a huge noise, I felt its wind shaken our Jeep. I said “waoh…” le gros camion… (the big truck -When he was a kid back home in Haiti, every time Jonathan saw a truck, he said pointing his finger to it ”le gros camion.”)
Jon was very calm. He did not panic. I simply asked him “Have you seen the truck?”
He said no and kept driving. Mariejo and Axel did not say anything in the back.
I got a deep moment reflecting. It was an introspective moment thinking about what would happen if this truck had hit us. I would not be there to tell you that story.
I thought about Cassy, my daughter, the books I have been writing, and other projects I am working on.
I shifted my mind on the spot. I chased the thoughts about the truck. I silently prayed and thanked God to give us this opportunity to continue our life. All the glory to Him. I decided to imagine being a life coach, picturing myself speaking, writing books.
In my mind, I wanted to keep that story for myself and did not even discussed it with the ones in the car. But, this morning I woke up and felt the urgency and need to share it with you.