06th Feburary 2010
Existing In Concentric Circles

Human Beings, wherever they live or cohabit on Planet Earth must survive by eating healthy food, drinking pipe borne potable water, being sheltered, clothed, educated; and most importantly, being civilized in their respective cultures. Therefore, we have been going around in “concentric circles” for survival. In other words, we aim at the same centre – meaning we pursue the very same survival techniques as human beings as we go through the aging process from the “Cradle to the Grave” in this ephemeral life; while hoping for spiritual salvation in the afterlife. That generational process is also applicable to Saint Lucians, who are integral to the human race or the bigger global picture. Indeed, we now exist in a “Global Village” with the advent of the Internet or Super-HighWay, as it is referred to in this Information Age.
But we must make proper decisions individually to get it RIGHT and to be on the right track. In this regard, we need visionary and exemplary leadership to guide us. Otherwise, we are aimlessly doomed as a human race.
As a vulnerable island Nation, St. Lucia annually celebrates its Nobel Laureates, the late Sir Arthur Lewis for (Economics) and Honourable Derek Walcott for (Literature). We are proud to be recognized as having contributed to humanity even as a 238-square-mile sovereign nation in the Eastern Caribbean. As a Saint Lucian people, we have been at the center of World Affairs. So we do exist in concentric circles. Besides, St. Lucia also contributed to the creation and development of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) after the demise of the West Indian Federation in 1962. Dr. Vaughan Lewis was given the task as the first OECS Director-General back in 1983. His intellectual stewardship has been noted sub-regionally. Surely, we missed the earlier boat of “CONFEDERACY” as noted below :
THE FEDERATION HISTORY : (1957 – 1962) As part of its decision to push modified self-government, the colonial British authorities encouraged the experiment in confederation. The idea had been discussed in the Colonial Office since the latter nineteenth century, but it was brought to new life with a regional conference held at Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1947. The British were interested in administrative efficiency and centralization. The West Indians talked about political independence. At the conference, a compromise was worked out. The West Indian Meteorological Services and the University of the West Indies, as a College of London University, were set up, and plans were made for the creation of a political federation that would unite the various territories and eventually culminate in the political independence of the region. These new regional organizations joined others already in existence, such as the Caribbean Union of Teachers, established in 1935; the Associated Chambers of Commerce, organized in 1917; and the Caribbean Labour Congress, inaugurated in 1945. The federation began inauspiciously with the leading politicians in Jamaica--Norman Manley (then prime minister) and Alexander Bustamante--and in Trinidad and Tobago--Eric Williams-- refusing to contest the federal elections.