Ronald Thwaites | Two touching stories

Two contrasting events touched my heart since last writing. Both represent the deep, lively, spiritual energy of this nation and give witness to the best of who we really are this Emancipendence. And what kind of people we should purpose to become.

The first was contained in a short video clip sent to me by Hugh Small, well-known retired minister of government, judge and advocate, who felt moved to go to St Mary to help the Haitian refugees, who had earlier been dragged by local Pharisees before Pontius Pilate. He went to help them fill out applications for asylum.

COMMON COMPASSION

But the pictures that moved me were not about Hugh, but about a young couple and their three infant children from the hinterland of the parish, who had journeyed miles in a rickety vehicle, every day since the Haitians arrived, to volunteer to cook and care for them.

I don’t know their names or whether they go to any church or what politics they follow. I am honoured to be their fellow citizen this Independence Day. They deserve the national honours which they will never seek. Because they exude, by action not words, the divinity of human dignity, the racial pride and generosity of spirit which alone can make Jamaica great again.

They make no demand for money. They require no security detail, no big car or house; no half-drunk, or half-naked pretentious arrogance. Just raw, righteous Jamaican compassion. And think of the good values and habits their impressionable little children are learning from those parents – not from TikTok or the nasty cussing plenty big people did to each other last week in the public square.

Just suppose we were to be able to scale up the underlying virtues of this true story. What a different social order and political economy we would have. And who or what is really stopping us from doing that?

RELATIONSHIPS

Then there was Adam Stewart’s tribute to his wife Jill at her funeral. Here was a man of considerable influence and power, whose panegyric touched the lives of the many well-endowed and enabled who were present, by making himself vulnerable – no pretence, no affectation. Just a husband celebrating an ordinary yet epic love story whose premature ending left brokenness, but the beauty and integrity of which would extend beyond the bounds of time.

Relationships, the unselfish gift of one to another in any and every sphere of life, are the oxygen of human flourishing and happiness – not money alone, nor power: and least of all, never show-off nor crudity.

Relationships are sacred. Adam Stewart spoke simply of a long and faithful – not transactional and for the good times only – love affair with a woman whose beautiful, smiling picture looked out behind him, even as her very mortal remains lay before him.

GIVING THANKS

There were huge lessons being learnt by the privileged and powerful Jamaicans and friends who listened. First, the temporality of life. All the resources available could not assuage Jill’s illness. But, taken in the prime of her life, there had been no bitterness, no blame, no railing against the fates, her husband said. Just expressions of genuine cherish and thanksgiving for all life had brought her.

Adam Stewart devoted most of his tribute not to maudlin grief, but to thanking all the people who had made his wife’s life and his so full of purpose and happiness. That’s a noble way to mourn.

FRIENDS IN CHURCH: ANTAGONISTS OUTSIDE

I watched Andrew Holness, Mark Golding and their wives, along with other ministers and officials, celebrating Jill Stewart’s passage to eternal life after a week of acrimony and contention between them and the pointless diminution of some national institutions. Now they shared friendly words and smiles. All of them are sensitive people. They, too, will die soon. They heard the head of the Sandals empire strip down to what was elemental and essential in his life.

Averting my gaze from the inconsolable sadness of the little Stewart children, I looked closely at our national leaders and wondered what they were thinking. Friends in church but antagonists outside. Why?

What’s the point? Both captives of a winner-take-all system which breeds animosity instead of sharing power to foster cooperation. Sandals couldn’t run like that, but we think Jamaica can. Leaders, each capable of contributing greatly to national fulfilment but constrained by constitutional arrangements which neuter the best intentions of whoever leads this ‘bang-belly’, 61-year-old nation.

LET GOODNESS PREVAIL NUH!

That funeral service, in all its unique poignancy, riveted in every mind that life is very short. Goodness of character, genuine effort and high purpose are never to be squandered. Two rabidly tribal and benefit-hungry political parties are not our safeguard against autocracy and dictatorship, as Westminster told us we needed them to be. We have opted for what Kamau Brathwaite calls “bastard metropolitanism”.

Why not allow the generous consciousness of the young family reaching out to the Haitians; the comity of the Cathedral front bench at Jill’s funeral in the stark face of human frailty; stories of elemental freshness and love, bonding beyond all odds, to ground the repurposing of the political culture? Then we would achieve more spirit-filled oneness, effective struggle against poverty and classism, and satisfaction for shared effort appreciated by all. Because there is no position, salary or legacy worthy of demeaning our common life. These two stories, at opposite ends of the Jamaican social fracture, display basic goodness among us.

Errol Barrow was right when he wrote that the “British built more than they knew”. He was referring to the fundamental institutions of democratic governance, civil liberties, health, education and security which we inherited. The Independence project is to achieve the “unrecognised opportunities” of our people through transformation of these institutions and the remoulding of personal behaviour. That means strengthening personal and societal relationships, two instances of which are shared today.

What could be a more purposeful and exciting way to live and build up a nation?

“Maintain your unanimity, possessing the one love, united in spirit and ideals. Never act out of rivalry and conceit, rather…each should look to others’ interests rather than his own” (Philippians 2: 2b-4).

­Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. He is former member of parliament for Kingston Central and was the minister of education. He is the principal of St Michael’s College at the UWI. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.