If You Don't Understand, Don't Make Up Stories

People have a tendency to need to understand. However, they also tend to make things fit the understanding the already have. You see this clearly when you take people out of their normal context and present them with something new, it can be anything, the reaction is similar. It's like when people do not know a word and they move to translating it into a word they know. So 'chug' can become 'chuck'.

When we lived in Guinea, our staff did not know about resealable Ziploc bag or rolls of cling film with edge cutters. When the cook put left overs into the Ziploc, he would then look for some sellotape ("Scotch") to seal the bag. Imagine his amazement when I showed him how to use the resealable strip. Likewise, when he was trying to cut pieces of film to wrap left overs, he would use a pair of scissors. So, when I showed him that the box had a sliding cutter under which the film should pass so that it could work, we had another Eureka moment. We had many more. He was not silly or lacking in intelligence. He merely could not work outside his experience.

I have noticed that Barbadians tend to not express views that non-nationals cannot have very strong support for them. I need to try to figure out why they think this, but later. So, in a simple sense, they equate national interest only with the support of nationals. Therefore, non-nationals must be against them. When I explain to people that I like Barbados very much, but I also see many things that do not work well or could work better, they start to say "But, why you dragging down our country?" I explain that it is not "dragging down". I look for things to be excellent, and always want to use the scope available to get to that best point. Therefore, on the contrary, I am looking to pull up. So, I see a country where a bus can take you anywhere on the island for B$1.50 (cheap), but I also see buses that are far too large for the normal passenger volumes. That's a familiar problem in transport, because you need to cater for peak loads. But, is there no way to scale down on the buses used? My wife always asks why park-and-ride is not standard. We ask. We answer. So, it goes as I pass everything. I am critical in that I look to see that I witness the best. If you stand atop anything, you must be able to still look upward for where you can go.

When my friends and I went to watch the latter days' events from Berlin's World Championships, we cheered for Jamaica, naturally, but we hollered too for Barbados. Last Thursday heard THE holler. Jamaicans in Kingston showed a much bigger public reaction to Ryan Brathwaite's win than was evident in Barbados. We hugged everybody in Bubba's when the boy won, full of the excitement rolling on from the two wins Jamaica had also registered. We showed love and affection to the staff every day. We argued with the Bajan manager that if he loved track and field as he had protested, then why were were watching lacrosse, American football replays, and Little League games when live action was on in Berlin? Follow the logic. We waited patiently on Saturday and took it as it was served. I asked afterwards whether the waitress had found serving us "pleasurable" or "miserable". She said "Pleasurable." We hugged her and told her she was now family.

Jamaicans are seen as 'can do' people. So, on Sunday, when we found that the live action was not going to be picked up but would only be shown in Bubba's a few hours later, we took charge. We brought a laptop to the place. We asked if there was a wifi connection, and when told yes, we asked if we could get the code. Yes, again. We hooked up, connected, and yes again. We had live feed via Internet. The bar changed. People gravitated to our little table of only 3 Jamaicans. "Dey watching it. It's live here." They too had wanted to see but were powerless to make it happen. We created a new pole of interest. We wanted to hook the laptop to a big screen TV but could not. One friend said, "Inna Jumayka we wudda run get cord fi do de hook up." The staff returned the love and the pleasure and we got 'brawta' of free food.

Therefore, I found it really disappointing yesterday when I read some comment about me posted on an Internet site, that I knew to be untrue, and I found deeply offensive. I asked politely for the remark to be removed, and did so again over several hours. No concession. I pointed out that my credibility in Barbados is based on my saying that I have a neutral position. It's an independence that allows me to be heard better. This did not seem to matter or register. No substantiation, therefore, I had to live with slur.

I will see if it starts to affect how people view me, though it's too early to say. I got a call from one paper last week to make comments about the apparent ending of the world recession and the piece is due out today. I will listen for remarks that suggest that "He's biased...".

I understood that part of the problem for the person making the remarks is that he is part of a world that has to see Barbados as BLP or DLP. Those are his points of reference. If you are not one, then you must be the other. Not dog? Then you are a cat. We should be familiar with the fallacy. Even a non-national must fit one in that person's mind. So, not understanding how someone could be independent, a fabrication was done to make interpretation of remarks fit one side or other. The conclusion was done. My tolerance might have been higher had I read "Based on comments made, I believe that Mr. Jones tends to favour ..." But instead the person blared "Living in Barbados is a shill for the BLP, and is carrying a huge grudge against the DLP because they did not facilitate him with work, work permit fast enough etc." To shill is 'to act as a spokesperson or promoter'. No understanding that I had been in no need of work or work permit after a short time in Barbados. I am still in that enviable position. I was paid off handsomely by my employer in exchange for my resignation. I got the equivalent of nearly two years' pay. I sit pretty. Income secured. In recessionary times, I do not need to take a job that someone else may need.

I certainly do not need to go through any bureaucratic hoops to get my degrees certified and get my Caricom eligibility to work. I work, but not for pay. People hear me on the radio as caller or panelist, but for no remuneration. I am asked by local papers to provide articles and comments, but I do not get paid. I am a free agent. I can pick up and head off when and almost where I please: I am in work Nirvana. My wife asks "Do you want to come with me to ...?" and I can say "Sure. When?" We only need make sure our little one's schedule is covered and off we go; our house keeper can manage for a few days. So, I get to travel and see new places; we sometimes take the little one too. If I need or want to go to the US to deal with something, it's no big deal. I have a G4 visa and in I go, and off I go to do what I need to. My wife and I have different rights than ordinary non-US travellers, based on having been staff of the IMF--we are privileged in that sense. So, my real constraints are interest, timing, and occasionally a sense that it's not a value for money proposition: two nights in X for US$1000 in fares? No. Let's use that money for other things, like going to the US Open tennis later this week.

What is so funny and ironic is that of the people I know in Barbados I can count only three whom I have met who profess to be BLP supporters. In fact, they are all former or current MPs: two of them I met a few weekends ago at limes; one I met when we butted heads over economic policy while our kids played tennis. I know where their headquarters are, as my wife's office used to be down the street from it and I went to a supermarket nearby once to get seasoning. Most of our Bajan friends profess to be DLP supporters, some with blood ties that flow very deep; some even ran for the party. When we watched the election night coverage, it was clear what kind of household I was in. The MP for my area is a DLP man whom I have met socially a few times and find quite funny and I have also met his family, whom I like a lot. I've been invited to DLP HQ meetings in George Street and cosied up over cou-cou and Q & A. I now hear that my latest hang in Brittons Hill is a DLP hang out. And so on.

What I wanted to know is where is my contract? What does it set out as terms? And--excuse me--where is my money? To that I heard that deafening hollow sound that comes from people standing naked with nothing left to show.

Small minds can only handle small things.

The person who runs the Internet space where the 'offence' took place discussed with me previously getting more of my 'intellectual' friends to participate in discussion. I explained that they probably wont because the 'people' currently participating seem to feel free to be wanton with their remarks, incapable of checking facts, and merely uttering unsubstantiated opinions, and that is dangerous. No one of my friends needs to be heard that badly, I think. We all have other ways and places to make our points. We also need people with whom we can deal reasonably and for whom truth means something other than a word that rhymes with Ruth. So, there you have it. Dialogue? What dialogue? Ranting and raving over which party did this or that? Jumping on bandwagons? Please.

I discussed over the weekend with some people that maturity for a country is a process that is very complex. One of its complexities is to deal with the changes that come from outside. Only a few countries were on a 'natural' path for the Industrial Revolution, but its results then spread. So, countries had to adapt to things that were outside their progress to that point. Many made the adjustments well, but the paths were different. You see this more clearly if you think about a society that now has the car but had been plodding along literally with donkeys. People then drive cars as if they are riding donkeys. They stop when they feel like it (donkey needs hay). They carry people if they can, with no regard for if it's really appropriate (in this case, is helmet needed, or bus too full, etc). They leave their cars askew (donkeys can reorient themselves once tethered). You get my drift.

I think what I experienced (and it had its echoes in some other events at the weekend) tells me that a real rocky road is ahead. It's harder because of the length of time that one side had controlled things. So, there are all the pent up frustrations and expectations on one side, and the bitter disappointments on the other. So, common sense has to take a back seat. Trouble is that the world does not give you time to figure out at leisure what you really need to do, it moves on. Look around and see the economic malaise and think of what will have changed by the time people have figured out what they should have been doing.