Note from the Diaspora : COVID, A Merciless Change Agent
By William Skinner
Note from the Diaspora
COVID, A Merciless Change agent
The habit of putting off things until tomorrow, has been severely
affected by COVID. Alert social commentators have suggested that a number of
Caribbean maladies and viruses such as the procrastination virus, which once
was an incurable Caribbean malady, is in some form of remission. While we
certainly do not wish any virus to infect, our policy planners, we are nevertheless,
hoping that the implementation deficit virus, that we have learned to live
with, will also fall victim to COVID.
We have finally accepted, that regional economies are fragile
and in need of radical, some say, revolutionary reform. We need to start, immediately,
if we want to leave progressive, socio economic models of development, for our
children and grandchildren. We must ensure that they enjoy more than the barest
minimum, of a good socio-economic landscape. COVID is acting as a needed change
agent, to cure the rampant denial syndrome affliction.
COVID has also changed our funeral culture. We are now saying
goodbye, to our loved ones from the comfort of our homes. We do not ask who has
the “turn out” or at which church, the service will be held. We ask: “Do you
have the link” to the funeral or did you record it, so that it could be viewed
later. We do not have to “head home, from the Diaspora to attend funerals,
to say goodbye, to our family and friends. Even the language in reference to
the departed has changed. We used to say, the departed have gone home or passed.
We now say: they have “gone to be with the Ancestors.”
COVID has brutally exposed, the poignant truth that the best
of plans: retirement; building homes “back at home’ frequent or even infrequent
trips can be upended through no fault of our own. Many of us will be forced to reconsider
how we “enjoy” our earnings and will therefore be making changes to our plans
and expectations.
We can only hope that those at home, in our beautiful
islands, respect and protect them. They must ensure that our leaders plan,
always aware that “trouble don’t set up like rain”. And those impostors, such
as COVID, never announce their presence and intentions.
When we are thrown off our guard; when we are
denied the opportunity to say that last goodbye, the piece of technology, that
transports us through cyber space, to home is a great tool. But it is never
home. “Firing one” in the virtual rum shop is an enjoyable experience; and it
will certainly avoid a DUI, but it is not the same.
COVID has brutally reminded us, that home is really where the
heart is.
Stay safe.
William Skinner is a Caribbean social commentator currently
resident in the USA.
Comments