I was initially disappointed in the turnout at City Hall during the Gathering for the International Day of Peace on Friday, September 21. No more than 60 people attended the one-hour observance. However, upon reflection, I woke up to the fact that my disappointment was just my ego taking control for a while. This at a time I was supposedly encouraging fellow residents to make peace with at least one other person. The irony was that I had given up an appointment with peace with myself.When you set those feelings of disappointment on the backdrop of the latest murder wow!I had given into the temptation of being concerned with “how things looked”. However, to err is Human. I share this story with you to remind us all that it’s easy to get off course in our lives and hence “to forgive is Divine”. As I forgive myself, I am able to get back on track, releasing fear and acting from that stable place within.The fact is that Peace Day involved an unprecedented number of people. Restoring my direction, I can now express appreciation to the many business partners that responded to the invitation to support Peace Day.All the major supermarkets, the Phoenix pharmacies, Masters, Gorham’s, Gibbons Group and Brown & Co. involved their customers in the minute of silence at noon on September 21. The Island’s banks and a variety of firms in the international sector encouraged their staffs to observe the silence for peace.This whole initiative was accomplished through a collaboration of less than two weeks of preparation, involving the Island’s employer groups, some unions as well as various churches. The Corporation of Hamilton provided service in kind, as did Spanish Town. Let me express our deep appreciation for all this support.The matter of numbers of attendance is ephemeral at best. I can recall when organising the first meeting of the local Anti-Apartheid Movement in 1982, which was held at St. Paul AME Church, we had no more than six persons six! in attendance. That included Canon Thomas Nisbett and Rev Patterson, the speakers. In 1990 we had a celebration of Mandela’s release in which more than 2,000 people attended.The reality of another murder over the International Day of Peace weekend points to the importance of this type of communal effort which characterised the initiative around the International Peace Day. We have accessed a key to moving forward on this journey of restoring the fabric of our community.That is collaboration. Moving from a paradigm of hyper competitiveness to one of developing cooperation will require self- awareness. This will allow us to regain our direction when we get off track, promoting the type of synergy that allows are community to fulfill our potential.