The news these days is so full of unbelievable extreme situations that my head is spinning, and I don’t know what is real and what is fake news anymore. Trump is purchasing Greenland? How is a country for sale? Could I buy Italy if I have the money? Who do I approach to negotiate a fair price?

I am an Afro-Jamaican, meaning I am dark-skinned, but I live in Canada. I used to live in the States but felt that the racism in my town was too overt, and I didn’t feel safe. My friends at the time were a group of Jewish guys, one who was white but also born in Jamaica. As a teenager, they protected me many times. But still, years later we have incidents like the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer.

And now my Jewish brothers are suffering, not because of the colour of their skin but because of the blood that runs through their veins? And Black men like Kanye West can publicly call for their erasure?

What kind of a world do we live in and how can I raise my kids here? On second thought, forget Italy, I’m buying Mars and moving my family there.

Flabbergasted

You and me both, my friend. I, too, am flabbergasted. You buy Mars, I’ll move there with you. According to a quick Google search, Trump has been discussing purchasing Greenland since 2017 and has been obviously unsuccessful because…. Greenland is NOT for sale. In fact, no individual can purchase a country as there are international regulatory laws defining what a country needs to be considered a country.

Racism and antisemitism are age-old issues that the world cannot seem to put to rest definitively. American Black people have suffered for generations. As for antisemitism, we’re talking over 2,000 years of oppression. And I agree that someone like Kanye West, a celebrity with millions of social media followers, who is known to have mental health issues (bipolar disorder, self-diagnosed autism) and a proud misogynist, should not be allowed to make inciteful and hateful comments publicly.

When’s the next flight outta here?

My boyfriend is 5’8” and I am just millimeters shy of six feet. People always stare at us. He doesn’t look like my son because he’s bald and has a big beard. Nor do we look overly different in age. I know that’s often the case when the size difference is reversed, and the man is much taller than his petite partner.

But why do people think it’s OK to unabashedly stare? Yes, I’m tall, but not freakishly so. And yes, my boyfriend is short, but again, not that short. It’s just overexaggerated when he is standing beside me.

We’re happy. We love each other. We enjoy each other’s company. Why is it anybody else’s business?

Vertical issues

Your relationship is NO ONE else’s business. And the fact that you are several inches taller than your boyfriend is not a big deal in the scheme of life. You are smart to focus on your relationship – your happiness, your love – and tune out all the negative commentary in the background.

People, in general, like to talk about other people, for better or for worse. “Look at her hair! Look at her jacket! Look at his tattoos!” I’m guilty myself, though usually I’m simply noting and have no negative thoughts attached. But if you walked by and I was staring, you wouldn’t know that I was thinking, “I LOVE how this woman walks with such confidence.” So, walk tall, live your life and smile through it all.

FEEDBACK Regarding stuck between a bonfire and a blazing disaster (Dec. 5):

Reader #1 – “How is he so sure the baby is his?? It could be his sister-in-law’s husband (his best friend), or it could be anyone else’s, right? Or am I wrong?”

Reader #2 – “What does she want? Clearly, she’s accepted this pregnancy and the baby she’s carrying.

“He only talked about what he should do, but has he talked to her about what she wanted to be their approach to this complicated situation?  The fact that she was showing the ultrasound means that she valued the child regardless of the circumstances of its conception.  To suggest that she should’ve thought about an abortion was negative.

“Don’t you think she’s kind of gutsy?

“Ultimately, I think parents are the ones who raise you, love you and are always there for you. So, if her husband plays this role, he is indeed the dad. And maybe she went home and made love with her husband that same weekend.”