AS TOLD TO BC PIRES

This feature first appeared in July 2019. It appears today in memory of Richard Gordon, who died last week.

My name is Richard Gordon and I believe Trinidadians are a unique race on this planet.

My father died of a burst appendix, acute appendicitis, when I was five years of age.

So I went to live with my aunt and uncle in Barbados. My mum just couldn’t afford to look after three children. And my aunt and uncle couldn’t have children. My mother said, “Better for them there, than here.”

So my aunt and uncle brought my sister and me up.

I grew up in Barbados. My school years, from five to 17, were at Presentation College.

When I was 17, after I’d finished school, I woke up one morning and told my uncle, “I’m going back to Trinidad.” My mother and brother were in Trinidad.

My sister still lives in Barbados.

From very young, I just viewed things differently from everybody else. I was more concerned about what life was all about than anything else.

I don’t think my father’s death was a traumatic event.

I’ve never looked upon death as a big thing.

When my aunt died, when I was 15, I was walking to a Coney Island that had come to Barbados. And I saw the priest drive up.

I walked to him and said, “My aunt has died.” She hadn’t been sick or anything.

He said, astonished, “How did you know?”

I just knew.

[caption id="attachment_1007779" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Richard Gordon believed that life is just a movie and we are producers, directors, actors and audience in our own movie. - Mark Lyndersay[/caption]

We are spiritual beings having a human experience. There really is no such thing as death.

I’ve always thought we have everything upside down in life: when somebody dies, we should celebrate. When somebody is born, that is the time to be sorrowful.

Think about it: when a child is born, it cries! A

And people (in old age) generally die with a smile on their face. They’re contented to go.

The first thing you have to know is who you are. The next thing you have to consider is what your role is.

Life is just a movie and we are producers, directors, actors and audience in our own movie. Everyone who comes into our life, we’ve asked to come in, to play a role, to teach us something.

To become a good actor, you have to play many different roles in many different movies. In some, you may play the hero, in some, the villain – but it’s all just a movie.

Enjoy the role you play, but don’t get attached to it!

My aunt was very religious. She would have the priest in her house two Sundays a month.

But at the age of seven, looking at the priest, I realised there was nothing spiritual about him.

I see Trinidad as a grand experiment of more than a million people of how different races and religions can intermix with ea