The Editor
The Anguillian
December 8th 2012
Dear Editor:
In the sport of golf, a mulligan is a do-over. It’s a consensual arrangement between all players of the game that a player can re-do his shot either because of it simply being a bad shot or otherwise. I’ll tell you where the mulligan fits in the scheme of things later. Now, with all the recent frenzy over independence, Anguillians have once again become very vocal as to where they stand on the topic. Actually, I should have said some Anguillians. Let me explain. On December 1, 2012, the popular talk show, The Mayor Show broadcast on KOOL FM Radio 103.3, had as its topic: The Pros and Cons of Political Independence for Anguilla. Conrad Rogers, one of the panelists on the Mayor Show, made his views known with a piece that he wrote and published in this newspaper, back on October 19, 2012, called Talk of Independence – The Cart Before the Horse. Needless to say, that piece which was right on the money, in my opinion, got everyone thinking. Everyone, that is, except the first caller to the radio show that morning.
The caller didn’t identify himself, but he didn’t have to. His voice was easily recognizable. He then proceeded to give Conrad, a dressing down with a tone of voice that was downright condescending. He took issue with the questions that Conrad as a panelist on the Mayor Show, asked of our guest Mr. George Hodge, better known as Teacher George (who, by the way, was magnificent) and went off on a tangent. Everyone who knows Teacher George is familiar with his views with regard to Anguilla’s independence. To put it in his own words, he “is very passionate about independence.” Conrad, who does not think that we’re ready to go independent, as he so eloquently stated in his article, a view that I agree with by the way, was simply asking the guest to elucidate his points. Nothing more, nothing less.
The caller became irate or should I say inflamed over Conrad’s line of questioning. So why the sudden outburst by this particular caller? He could have kept the call civil, but he decided to make it personal by questioning Conrad’s birthright. He stepped over the line when he asked Conrad if he was an Anguillian. He further dug himself deeper into the hole by telling Conrad he needed to come home to get some good old fashioned peas and rice and fish, implying that he’d lost his way and he should come back home. It was unbelievable to hear this sort of nonsense coming from someone who is supposed to be educated. If that is the case, then it does not say much about our education system. Conrad, in his unflappable manner, responded in a way that only he could and set the caller straight all the way down to where his umbilical cord could be found.
After listening to this caller rave and rant, I decided to respond because of what he said and what seems to be part of an ugly and counter-productive “underbelly” in Anguilla that: if you don’t live in Anguilla you haven’t the right to say anything about Anguilla. Well, I took exception to that and I jumped in when my turn came. I’m an Anguillian and I damn well have the right to say whatever I want when it comes to the place where I was born and lived until it was time for me to leave. Because we are somewhere abroad, doesn’t make us any less Anguillian than those who chose to stay at home. It is sad that there’s that sort of thinking still going on in our beloved Anguilla. There appears to be some residual effects of the Willy Lynch method still active among some of our people, some 300 years later. I’m encouraging the caller to heed the words of late brother Bob Marley to free his mind of mental slavery, and don’t continue to fall victim to the psychological tactic of amplifying the smallest perception of differences among us to divide and rule us. Instead, caller, you should embrace all your Anguillian brothers and sisters at home and abroad. What are you afraid of? That because we went away and educated ourselves, that we are going to return to encroach on your territory? Nothing could be farther from the truth. You should welcome the fact that we still show an interest in our beloved rock. We’ve got your back. There’s strength in numbers. We are still going to need every able bodied one of us when the time comes.
This crab in the barrel mentality has got to stop. We have got to stop marginalizing each other. I hope the caller was listening to what Mrs. Joyce Kentish-Egan had to say on the Mayor Show on KOOL FM on December 8th 2012. We have to raise above all this pettiness and gossip or else we’re all headed down the wrong path where doom awaits us. You guys, you know who you are. Stop indulging in that old Anguillian past time, that of throwing stones and hiding your hand. Let’s take Mrs. Kentish-Egan’s advice, assume responsibility for our actions, and start acting mature and not child-like.
Everyone in Anguilla has the right to voice his/her views without fear of losing a job or not getting one. Folks, the picture isn’t pretty. The vociferousness with which the Chief Minister and his cohorts have pursued the topic of independence signasl the importance of it. It should lead us to ask the question then, how badly do we want this, and are we ready to go all out and achieve it?
We are all Anguillians whether we reside on the rock or abroad. The fact that another Anguillian would have the audacity to question one’s ethnic origin, when he knows full well the answer to the question, smacks of a hidden agenda – is insulting, and warrants an on air apology in the same manner that the assertion was made. It is because of people like Conrad’s father Bob, and my father Walter and others, that people like the caller can come on the air and make a total jackass of himself.
Independence is a serious matter and so far the Mayor Show has heard from one guest with pro independence views and one guest with con independence views. They both were very strong and convincing in their arguments. We should all continue to weigh both sides of the arguments and when the time is right, decide. I liked the fact that Mrs. Kentish-Egan compared independence in a manner that one caller said was easy to understand. She compared it to teenagers yearning to be free of home restraints only to find out that freedom comes with great risks and responsibilities. That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. We can be free of the yoke – that is Great Britain – but we had better be damn sure that we’ve made the necessary arrangements to go out on our own and, by that I mean, that there’s someone credible and trustworthy leading the way. A person above reproach and possesses the qualities the sum total of which makes an exceptional statesman.
And now, back to the mulligan in which the player gets to re-do his shot. Well, unlike the sport of golf, there is no such play when it comes to political independence. This is a one time deal. There are no second chances or second acts. We have to be ready to lead and make responsible decisions for generations to come. This is one call that has to be made if, and only if, all the possible scenarios have been played out. Mrs. Kentish-Egan in her presentation said there’s strength in numbers, and hopefully those numbers will make their views known. Martin Luther King Jr. in one of his famous quotes had this to say: “In the end we’ll remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Let me say this: What we’re contemplating is very serious, and if we don’t get it right we don’t get to pull a mulligan. We could also do well to recall the Parable of the Prodigal Son who, being a very impatient young man, approached his father and asked for his share of his inheritance. Well, you know what happened. In short order, he had blown it all on the pleasures of life. Finding himself with no money or friends, he would up destitute, having to eat the food that he fed to hogs. We know that he returned home to the delight of his father who ordered the fatted calf to be killed to celebrate his son’s return.
Well there’s a lot to be learned from that parable. Unlike the Prodigal son, once we leave, we can’t ever go home again. We get no mulligan. Our inheritance will have been gone and we’ll have to get out of that sand trap one way or another. So my brothers, and sisters, ask yourselves the sixty-four thousand dollar question: Are we ready? Are our education system, our health system, and our infrastructure where they ought to be? Do we have a leader that we trust – one who possesses those special qualities to which I made reference earlier? Are we doing this out of necessity because we yearn to be free of those blasted home restraints, or are we truly ready to be free? Just remember, freedom comes with great risks and responsibilities. Independence is something we should aspire to. Forget about 2014. That’s a pipe dream. We may have many disagreements with the Foreign Office, but that doesn’t mean we should jump on our high horse every time they tick us off. Mr. Chief Minister, “you will catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar.” Think about that. Until then, may God bless us all, and may God bless Anguilla.
