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Isn’t it time we gave our children something to be truly proud about? What does it really mean to be Saint Lucian?
What about us defines us as Saint Lucian? Is there such a thing as being Saint Lucian? I thought about these questions and though not conclusively, came up with some idiosyncrasies that perhaps can be described as Saint Lucian.
Let’s begin with our sense of humour; it can best be described as crude and void of subtlety. Take this story: Mavis, Miss prim and proper, walking along a busy and wet Bridge Street pavement, misses her step and lands on her buttocks, two legs up in the air, as if ready for lift-off. Nearby on-lookers are in stitches laughing. Some close enough to anticipate the fall respond in sync with her contact with the concrete pavement, “He Salop”. Now, where else in the world would that be considered funny? The same refrain visited World Cup Cricket some years ago at Beausejour, Saint Lucia’s premier cricket ground. At the hit of the cricket ball by a West Indian batsman came the same synchronized Saint Lucian response. That this falls within the culture of Saint Lucian humour remains unexplained.
And what about our attitudes to some of our Caribbean neigbours? We love Trinidadians and Vincentians all because they share our penchant for parties and having a good time. In these times we affectionately refer to them as Trinis and Vincies, respectively. We would find any excuse for having a party, to hell with work. In the area of work, however, we are weary about doing business with Trinidadians. In fact, we rename them then as Trickydadians.
Toward our not-too-distant neighbours the Bajans we are ambivalent. There is that part of us that respects their higher level of social development, to which we frequently make complimentary references. But we perceive them as tight-fisted and selfish, not the kind to return our hospitality. Most St Lucian men believe all men from St James, Barbados are homosexuals and take great care lest they be labeled the same.
We are a people living champagne lifestyles on river- water income. No Saint Lucian wants to admit he is having a hard time, at least not publicly. If my neighbour has it why can’t I? We are among the best dressed women anywhere in the Caribbean; St Lucia we say is the New York of the Caribbean, never mind our only significant product export is “figvette.” And about sex, it is the preoccupation of our men and they are irrational in their pursuit of it. Not to mention it is weaved into every male discussion, they just can’t do without it, even when they are just not up to it.
We are indeed a nation of talkers not doers. We moan about everything and do nothing. You would believe Saint Lucia is a population of one million for the number of callers on Timothy Poleon’s “NewsSpin” or Andre Paul’s “What Makes Me Mad” radio programmes. Not a nation known for reading, you wonder where the input for all this output is coming from. Perhaps all this talk is a useful escape valve for the frustrations of many citizens unable to deal with a largely dysfunctional society. If only based on the general quality of the calls to the radio talk-shows, Nino: Nothing in Nothing out, may be a more apt name for these callers. A replacement for the more widely used politically disparaging term Hack.
Just in case you thought the extent of Saint Lucian talking is an exaggeration, telephone penetration in St Lucia is among the highest in the world. Telephone operators on island have discovered St Lucia as fertile ground for making big bucks. Cell phones are among the most ubiquitous items around town. No one appears to be without one.
We are mistrustful of institutions. The vast majority of Saint Lucians believe that the country’s institutions work only for those who have the means to manipulate them. Banks only help those who have, churches are money-making ventures, particularly if they are evangelical, parliament is largely irrelevant, the police an impediment to winning the war on drugs and successful business people- are just hard-working cheats.
We still believe that foreign is better than local, whether we talking human resource or product, a legacy largely of our colonial past. We beat down on our own, providing the opportunity for the foreigner to set up shop in every sector of business life on island. We were well ahead of our politicians at Caricom forums trying to open up our country to others in the name of globalization.
There are only two political views in the country: a Labour or a UWP. Forget the one-man party Peter Alexander, it’s only an unofficial appendage of the Labour Party. And about the so called LPM, everyone knows it’s a group of disgruntled UWPees, waiting for the father’s welcoming party for the prodigal son.
There is really no St Lucian that is apolitical, not even our Governor General, a symbol of St Lucian unity. She took up office initially under a Labour government so she must be Labour, never mind she is still the GG under the governing United Workers Party. Just in case there may be doubters about her perceived allegiance we would be quickly reminded that she is from Laborie, the bedrock of Labour Party support. That is just how it is.
On the occasion we officially wish to recognize independent individuals, the national perception still remains. In the Senate, the Upper House of our Parliament, the two independent senators are not considered to be as their title suggests. These senators are perceived as sympathizers of the government under which they took office. So independent senators like Everistus Jn Marie are seen as UWP, never mind his sometimes public fights with the UWP government over margin increases for Petroleum Dealers.
After all is said Saint Lucians are a good natured people, generally kind to the stranger in their midst, even though privately, they are quick to have fun at their expense. We can be likened to children of a household without the parental care, of discipline, selfless, hard-working, fair and honest parents. We just need some good honest and hard working leaders at all levels in our country. If we can discover some way of fostering this we shall have a far better country we can all be proud of.
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Ouch. But sadly, fairly true.
St. Lucians have good reason to be mistrustful of their institutions as this is the birth place of the borborlist. And yes, success usually involves some type of borbol to get the results one wants in a quick fashion. Your article has some funny content about Barbados but St. Lucia has a higher number of bullers.
I have to agree with most of what you have there
The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a virulent new strain of an old disease, G0n0rrhea. The disease is called G0n0rrhea Lectim, pronounced “Gonna re-elect ‘im.” The disease is contracted through the dangerous and high risk behavior of putting your cranium up your r.e.c.t..u.m. inside a voting booth. Many victims contracted it in 2008, but after having been infected for the past 1-2 years, most are realizing how destructive this sickness is. However, it is easily cured with a new product just coming on the market called Vo Temaut, pronounced, “Vote ‘em out”. You take the first dose in 2010 and the second dosage in 2011. After that, for a permanent cure, simply don’t engage in such behavior again. Otherwise, Gonorrhea Lectim could become permanent and eventually wipe out all life as we know it. The citizens of constituencies several states are already taking active steps to defeat this deadly disease, such as Castries East, Soufriere, Labourie, and Both Bieux Forts, with many cured. Please pass this important message on to all those high-risk, bright folk you really care about!!!
Toot Too Booshé Great job for mentioning, defining that proplem, wake up ! Ministries, get your acts together,get toot too booshé on the info wagon he/she seems to have a good view of the lucian scenario, Well as for you Mrs. williams you do a great job in stirring up storms, let`s just hope you don`t even think of putting all lucians in one bag, by generalising us ok ! Boy blue thanks for being optinistic of our political future ! Breadfuitlover, I wish St Lucia more people like you, Who love & Respect our fellowwo/men no doubt we would have a better future with more RESPECT (RID THE POLICE AND MINISTERIES OF CORRUPTION !!! & CRIME ON OUR LITTLE ISLAND HOME)
Nice one, and I had a good laugh as this is a sum total of we St .Lucian. We are on a journey of discovery and in the not to distant future we will have some good leaders.
Three cheers to all St. Lucians.
telling and shocking…but definitely true
@Jean Baptiste….You made me laugh hysterically.Maryanna thanks for a piece from the bible because it is the gospel truth.Great job well done.
I have to agree. Looshuns eh boy!!!!
Wwwwell,have mercy Lord on Lucian’s as a whole, if that, (Miss Maryanna’s summation of Lucian idiosyncraticness),and some of the agreeing comments are true! When I awoke this morning my God told me in His word, that we (Lucian’s), have the unique opportunity to become better & higher than those ideals some aspire to & are,,(borbol’s I read one commentator made), and to start trusting one another, which would require a tremendous amount of ‘Agape Love’, which can only come from the Creator-Abba Father!.We have the potential to become the ‘best’ there is within the whole Caribbean basin, as long as we continue to exercise this unique gift of unselfish & non-judgemental love, wherein the poor, destitute, disabled, disadvantage, the abused, & those born without those so called noble, high & privileged names, and stretch out our helping hands to them, the same them who makeup a good proportion of our society?.My God, the same God of Father Abraham, Isaac,&Jacob, tells me ‘whatsoever things that are lovely, true & of a good report’, that I should think of these things, so, if there are a few ‘borbol’s, warmongers, thieves, blasphemers, amongst us, (even holding high offices), it doesn’t make the whole Nation that way,, for ‘greater is He that is within ‘US’,than he that is in the world, so continue watching this space, as you see St Lucia’s fame rising regeonal wise, & internationally, not because we may be still the Wedding Capital of the world, or we are the ‘Helen’ of the west & our little’biddy Island is Gorgeous,(no bias intended), but, because we CARE for each other & social fabric is inclusive, & evil doers not welcomed?
What a broad brush you paint with most of the time. Perhaps you cannot help, if you have to generalize so darn much. St. Lucians are a dishonest bunch in general. They even lie to themselves. Little wonder we have such undesirables and criminals too, in government and in cabinet. Maybe the writer does not know that some people in the LPM claim that they have never ever been part of the UWP. How can such people then be called disgruntled? But then again, in all honesty, this writer does not make the claim to have done any basic research in order to write her opinions. This too is a grave failing of much of what is written in the press and what comes out on most of the talk shows for the ignorant and uneducated.. We can all of us agree on one thing. No basic research as the basis for our opinions gets us to the same recurring decimal of NINO.
Very funny but holds true
Speak for yourself miss/mate, as I am not one of those shit-lucians you are referring to in your article. Since you seem to have hit the nail on it’s head with all of the other persons who posted their comments, why don’t you all do something positive about changing the attitudes of St Lucians, instead of leaving them in the same situation you dislike them for. If you can bring out the causes, surely you can bring out a cure.
Oh so sad that nothing was mentioned about the “professional St Lucian “… the one who can go to the ballot box and vote and return to the civil service to take up the mantle, which they had just put aside for the two hours it may have taken to vote….THE ONE WHO WAS TRAINED TO DO A JOB AND WILL DO IT TO THE BEST OF HIS OR HER ABILITY NO MATTER WHO IS IN POWER. WHY? because within that context, they respect two things democracy and professionalism. Please do not narrowly define democracy … the professional does not…
take di horse to water it may drink, give ram goat wisdom an trainin to do better it still a goat, and see no problem, say no they say, hear no blab blab.you would not be fooled by life’s stressful people and their problems
I need to save this article as a blueprint to help me tackle the St. Lucian mind.
I believe “Lucians” have moved away from the peace loving, family oriented, we are all cousins/related, helping hand (coup d’main) values, to an extremely violent, greedy, individualist, crooks infested, drug dealing nation.
Nonetheless, some values still remain entrenched in their culture:
- They are quick to classify you as a low life if you pass them by without greeting them
- They are quick to pick up the things that North Americans or Western Europeans are throwing away
Let us see how they battle the consequencies of over indulging in high sodium content, high colesteral, high fat fast foods with an underdeveloped medical system.
Let`s not forget Thanks To The Rick Wayne Establishment for making our views/comments possible, Has Jeff Fedeé gone silent? Have`nt heard much lately, he is a brilliant writer/commenter of the St. Lucian Political scene.
Great article……very telling but sadly true.
couldn’t have said it better myself. st. lucian will spend between $5 and $8 to go china town to buy a $3 top; rather than gave their country man a sale at $4 or $5, even when it’s clearly a better product. you try and riase some cash by doing a cook-out at a small price; and they all claim that you money hungry–say you give it for free; and all these some people shows up; paul is a visitor, give a cook out at a price and all shows up. example you have a shop and no one who live in athe area will give you their sale– yet mrs. chin sell the same product as you and they will make him sell. a friend needed money for an operation (wanted to raise money by doing a barbecue), but was afraid no one would pruchase tickets; so her white boss offer to throw the barbecue, everyone came–that’s st. lucian for you. got to the airport and the custom officer will give you hell, make you put everything down; make you pay for having too much dollar lotion and yet mr. white is passing with with a cow, a goat and all the gold in america and they wave him by. they will take a colorful water toy from a child, becaue they claim it look like a weapon, but they will let mr. white pass with an iron pipe; that’s st. lucian for you. st. lucian never want to help each other–if they can’t have, so can’t you. they never have money; yet they have an outfit for every day. they want what everyone has, but never want to work hard for it. jobs you will do abroad–they don’t want to do in st. lucia– they rather sit at home; yet these some people will call hard working people and ask them to send them america–brands, you hard woking person don’t even wear,( waking up early in the cold; rain or snow), (go back to st. lucia, and they with no jobs or little money; dress better then you “hard worker– with a shoesand bag for every outfit”), try your best to send it to them and they say, you send the dollar cloth.
I’m not a professional but if those cultural traits or idiosyncrasies were manifest in an individual I think that individual would be classified by psychologist as someone with extremely low self image or is it just plain ignorance. Whatever it may be it would make for a very interesting subject for research.
At last an article to make us sit up and start thinking. Forget about looking for those around us changing. We have to start the change within first. We have to admit our individual short comings and do some thing about it. Simple.