...or standing on the rocks by the sea and fishing with a piece of thread and a straight pin I'd bent into a hook. I did all those things, and it was fun, because on such an island poverty wasn't the depressing, soul-destroying force that it can be under other conditions.

But the special beauty of Cat Island wasn't just what we had; it was also what we didn't have...I was lucky...I didn't have to digest television...I didn't even have to deal with the myriad stimulations that come from the presence of mechanized vehicles. No one on the island had so much as a car or a motorboat...

In the kind of place where I grew up, what's coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and your mama's voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters--and that's it...

What occurs when something goes wrong is that someone reaches out, someone soothes, someone protects. And as the people around you talk, you begin to recognize things that are carried on the voice. Words and behavior begin to spell out something to you. All those subtleties are what's going on with you, and that's all that's going on with you, day in and day out.

Sidney Poitier
The Measure of a Man: A spiritual autobiography