Healthy dialogue online
A Beaconite has noticed a positive uptick in political dialogue on social media recently in the Virgin Islands. While he has traditionally had a lot of disdain for useless Facebook shouting matches, it seems that many VI citizens, residents and visitors have been able to engage in a variety of layered and constructive Facebook discussions on topics ranging from marijuana legalisation to the merits of certain government projects to historical analysis of cultural issues. The Beaconite advises readers to join Facebook groups like the BVI National Forum and peruse the dialogues. He also, however, reminds readers to double check the comments some people may say are facts. That’s where useful websites like bvibeacon.com come in handy.
Hitchhiking
Once a hitchhiker, always a hitchhiker. If you rely solely on the kindness of others for daily transportation for long enough (in one Beaconite’s case, almost a year) it’s impossible not to pass it forward if you’re lucky enough to get a car of your own. A reporter does not, sadly, have her own vehicle, but was borrowing a friend’s last week when she picked up a woman at the bottom of Joes Hill. Amazingly, the woman turned out to be the same (formerly) anonymous commenter who had sent the Beaconite an e-mail last August about one of the first articles she ever wrote. The story was about a Magistrates’ Court matter, but included elements of hitchhiking culture in the VI. The woman wrote in to say she liked the piece and was a “fulltime hitchhiker” herself. Of course, the Beaconite could relate. Until last week this e-mailer was unknown: just a faceless reader who also knew what it was like to rejoice over brakelights or an empty spot in a truck bed. It only makes sense that a first meeting would happen in that same way. To you, female hitchhiker: It was great to meet you. Maybe next time we’ll both be at the bottom of Joes Hill, waiting for a ride.
No good deed…
As part of ongoing efforts to document Hurricane Irma recovery for the Beacon’s upcoming anniversary issue, a Beaconite found herself on a sister island with the opportunity to interview a woman who had given countless hours of her time to help with aid distribution. However, before the reporter could get out a single question, the woman said she didn’t want to be quoted, explaining that she had post-traumatic stress disorder linked to the recovery period. The next moment, she was in tears. “This is not an easy place to live,” she said. It soon became clear that her trauma was not directly related to Irma’s Category Five winds or merciless destruction, but rather to the way she had been treated by her fellow VI residents, who had apparently ascribed selfish motives to her actions in the storm’s aftermath. The Beaconite, even as she missed out on a potential interview, was heartbroken and angry on her interviewee’s behalf, imagining what incredibly hurtful things someone must have said to this kind, caring woman, who had been happy and upbeat about the recovery when the Beaconite had talked to her back in the fall. The Beaconite won’t ever know the full situation, but as a reporter she knows all too well how awful it feels when someone is determined to treat her as the enemy, even after she has gone out of the way to be helpful, friendly and accommodating. As her potential interviewee said, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Irma was a disaster that no one could have ever fully prepared for. Nobody had lived through anything like it, and nobody, no matter how long they’d lived here or what they thought they knew, was in a position to judge another. The Beaconite, who herself has sometimes been too quick to judge and is striving to improve, urges everyone to assume the best of people and go easy on each other. Everyone is in this together.