My following comments are for a well-admired gentleman. He is a noble Anguillian who has served his country with class and dignity. He is a husband, father, brother, colleague, and friend to many. He is none other than the chivalrous Mr. Osbourne Fleming, affectionately known as “Bunton”.
I am delighted to have known the honourable gentleman from age five, when I had an endearing, phenomenal experience. On my first day at school, I suffered a terrible-lousy gut feeling. I am positive that historian-teacher, Colville Petty, would have referred to that symptom as an overnight cold potato or, rather, colic. Mr. Fleming, from the benevolence of his heart, borrowed a bicycle from another young man to have me return home to my loving mother. This selfless act created indissoluble ties of friendship.
Fellow Anguillians, my primary purpose for writing this letter, after thinking about it for some time, is to express my thoughts about an Anguillian brother. It is my intent to openly allow others, who may not have insight into the brilliant former Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming’s distinguishing characteristics, to learn a bit about this local icon. Qualities may be realised by many, but others may not express their appreciation so publicly. Mr. Fleming’s unique characteristics catapulted me to write about my experiences around him – which encompass a significant portion of my life after returning to Anguilla.
I can declare myself a character witness to this philanthropist. He is rich in ideas and helps everyone with his time, talent, and treasure. During his years in government, he extended himself further and developed a continuous habit of donating his salary to his counterparts in the East End community. As I alluded to already, I spent significant time in the excellent gentleman’s company. I witnessed Bunton with tens of sealed envelopes with money to distribute to his people monthly. The discussion around this town shows how terrible, selfish, ungrateful and ungodly many people are. Rarely does anyone talk about the positive and caring things people do for others. Mr. Fleming needs to be appreciated for his efforts to assist his people.
But you want to hear more of this, my fellow people? It gets more exciting and even sweeter. He implemented a unique strategy by having two sets of keys to specific parts of his dwelling home for his beloved friends and constituents. One set of keys allowed persons to physically collect their gifts, and one set of keys was for his close friends to access other portions of his dwelling home. Yes, people, this may sound like something from a movie, and may be hard to comprehend, but this exemplifies the quality of this brother as it relates to kindness, trust, and caring for his people.
But one may ask the question, which indeed would be expected: how could one dispose of his salary in its totality, without enduring massive hardship upon himself? Well, you may or may not know Mr. Fleming as I do. He created a well-oiled business concept in the US Virgin Islands, which would have turned him into a business rock star- borrowing the phrase from someone else. As an intellectual, he surrounded himself with the other innovative and intelligent business folk. His trusted company was the exclusive mover for the most significant oil corporation in the Caribbean. Mr. Fleming, as a fiery, imaginative person, became an instant asset. This story is so fascinating. Mr. Fleming was such an asset to the organisation that, on several occasions, he would fly across the US to collect essential components for the oil company. So, it’s pretty evident why the Flemings’ Transport Co. became an instant success. It also makes it crystal clear as to how he could perform his goodwill to others.
Mr. Fleming also has important moral qualities that may not be known to the world. (I will attempt to flush them out in this short segment as much as possible because my good friend, Professor Nat Hodge, at The Anguillian newspaper, will hold me to a specific number of words that he is positive would invite readers more cognitively, and I have great respect for Mr. Hodge!) Relative to governmental affairs, as I have noticed on many occasions, whenever investors have gone in to meet with then-Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming, they would be expected to meet with him alone. But, instead, the meeting would be held with the complete cabinet. But that was a simple, ingenious, diplomatic move on his part. No one could ever accuse him of underhanded corruption practices of any kind.
It was customary for the Chief Minister to frequent restaurants on weekends. People would always offer to pay the breakfast bill. He has consistently refused to accept the offers. A stranger walked over to him and commented like this: “No one will accuse you of taking bribes, regardless of how small.”
It would be a good idea to conclude this segment with a bit of humour. This brother is an intense listener, and when he hears a topic that interests him, he aggressively tilts his head at a 15-degree angle. So one day, I decided to foot the bill at breakfast, which brought about the usual tilt. But with this standard tilt, he also pushed up his mouth, which ultimately reminded me of a discourteous boy’s attitude. Our discussions were fiery but friendly at the end, the way family and friends should wind up any disagreement. I knew what that meant. He wanted to pay, so a fervent discussion cranked up. Neither of us like to lose, so you can just imagine how that incident went.
I am optimistic that you will agree that Mr. Fleming is loved by many. Should he decide to run for the best-valued individual, he would exceed all others and become Mr. Congeniality with ease and poise.
Fellow Anguillians, I’ve encouraged a meaningful dialogue about why we can have various opinions without dragging each other into the swamp – but instead, approach our disagreements with civility and be cognizant of the pain we could potentially inflict on others.
Mr. Fleming has a heart the size of a blue whale’s heart…the largest heart of any mammal on earth. But still, his heart is not large enough to entertain divisiveness. I’ll let you in on additional insight – in the future – regarding my experiences with other Godlyfied Anguillians as time permits.
