LAST month, I asked my readers the question, “Do you see what I see?” in regard to what I believed to be a recent hopeful phenomenon here at home, and one to which I drew their attention without actually specifying its make-up. This phenomenon continues daily for many to observe, if they will. As for me, I am in constant awe of it, never failing to marvel at its successful execution and the promise it could hold for us as a people, as a nation, if we catch its message – unintended though it may be.
I am hugely persuaded that I am on to something big, and something which strangely enough no one else seems to have appreciated, not even the few friends to whom I repeatedly address my sleuth-like questions, without a breakthrough.
So, here’s the picture: daily they set off as individuals, families, employees, employers, special groups, about to start the business of their day; they may come from all corners of Saint Lucia, but eventually there is a confluence from three different directions with the possibility of their accessing one of nine, yes nine, distinct directions – a formula for chaos, a free-for-all, an each-man-for-himself kind of situation, especially in what we know to be these undisciplined, impulsive parts and times. But, no! The magic kicks in, the performance begins and hallelujah, it becomes a symphony!
Our visitor-observers can’t believe their eyes and stand transfixed, expecting the worst at any moment, surely. How could this not end in disaster? I, too, am lost yet again in complete wonder, even if I have come to know that it will all work out without a hitch. I contemplate the situation as I keep moving, an inevitable part of it. Good sense has prevailed; tolerance , give–and–take, intelligence, patience, even consideration and generosity – all are exercised without fuss or bother and the miracle is accomplished — whether through instinct or reasoning or altruism or self-serving means or a little bit of each — the objective is achieved, the job done, they’re on their way – and so am I.
They’ve come from across the spectrum of everything and may never otherwise have met and been forced to interact; they are of all shapes and sizes, financial standings, political allegiances, social classes, religious beliefs, but with a common problem, and by being of one purpose, they solve that common problem, at the same time honing essential virtues necessary for tackling the next problem whenever and wherever it surfaces, as it surely will. Now, it’s entirely possible that the significance of what they achieve each day has not occurred to them.
Well, dear readers, if you are still in the dark as to what I’m on about, if it is all still as clear as mud, fear not, it shall all be revealed next weekend: what the phenomenon is physically, and what it represents to me metaphysically. But to those of you who’ve worked it out, tell me, “Do you see what I see?”