Freedom
A Beaconite recently bumped into an old friend. As tends to happen in the Virgin Islands, the conversation wandered: families, work stress, travel stories — you know the drill. The friend had just returned from Colombia and was singing the country’s praises. One detail stood out: the exchange rate. One United States dollar? About 4,000 Colombian pesos. On paper, that sounds like a fortune. In reality, he said, exchanging just $300 let him live more than comfortably for the week. But what really impressed him wasn’t the bargain prices. It was the people. Despite their currency’s weakness against the mighty dollar, he felt, Colombians know how to live. They know how to have fun. How to enjoy life. How to make the most of what they have — and not in a Pinterest-quotes kind of way, but in a real, vibrant, daily rhythm of laughter and connection. The Beaconite, who is a Virgin Islander, thought back to his own early college years in Trinidad, where one US dollar was worth about six Trinidad and Tobago dollars. And even then, the lesson was the same: He found that people there had a natural talent for living fully — coming together, celebrating and finding joy without the constant threat of violence. He can still remember going to fetes out on farmlands, where bands would play live and people in the crowd would join in — banging rhythmically on old engine parts to sync with the music. Times have changed in Trinidad, sure, but the memory of that spirit still lingers. It’s curious: Across the Caribbean and South America, countries with “weaker” currencies often seem to him to be richer in the art of living well. Meanwhile, he believes the VI — blessed with the US dollar, political stability, and no shortage of natural beauty — doesn’t quite have the same reputation for that kind of joy-per-capita. Is joy the territory’s missing currency? What is the VI really rich in? And as the territory celebrates emancipation — a time meant for gathering, dancing, and remembering history — are the festivities just a few days off work? Or are they something more? Something lived? Something shared? Is the celebration really about freedom? Do residents even know how to be free? Are they spending their freedom and joy wisely? In some places, the real currency isn’t money at all: It’s how a community comes together — and spends its life, fully.
Power failure
There is an old political maxim: “Even the best day in opposition is never as good as the worst day in government.” But unfortunately for Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn, his long-delayed no-confidence motion in the government fell far short of his best moment opposing. After Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley spent the better part of a year protesting that he was not deliberately stalling the motion (spoiler alert: yes, he was), he abruptly changed course and let Mr. Walwyn proceed with his no-confidence charge sheet. No doubt he felt safe in the knowledge that the motion would be drowned out by the ongoing August Emancipation Festival. And while Mr. Walwyn scored open goals on youth unemployment and the seemingly endless lack of a tourism strategy, he at times rambled into incomprehensibility during his more-than-three-hour contribution. Something about a minister in a bad suit on the beach? No one else spoke in the whole “debate,” and only one other opposition member voted in favour of the no-confidence motion. Ex-opposition leader Ronnie Skelton, recently toppled in a palace coup in which he told the Beacon he had been “stabbed in the front” by Mr. Walwyn, abstained — bringing to mind an old joke: “I used to think I was indecisive, but now I just don’t know.” In recent months, both the premier and Mr. Walwyn have had to manoeuvre carefully in order to secure their positions — with Mr. Wheatley going so far as to fire and rehire ministers. In the aftermath of the no-confidence vote, a Beaconite cannot but reflect on Winston Churchill’s wry observation: “The opposition occupies the benches in front of you, but the enemy sits behind you.”
