The opportunity presented itself under the name, Daniel Pruce. The Fourth Estate categorized him as the 15th Governor of the Virgin Islands.
And when, on Monday, 29th January, HE the Ag. Governor, Mr. David Archer and Dr Allison Flax-Archer celebrated the appointment, HE, Governor Daniel Pruce, accompanied by his wife, Ms. Rachael Morgan, took his seat at Government House as His Majesty’s Representative in the Territory of the Virgin Islands.
It seems unfair to King Edward VIII that everyone, save he, could serve the public with the woman he loves at his side. But egalitarianism has long been a dream of the masses.
Governor Pruce, although simply the result of a changing of the guard, represents a clean canvas for the Territory; A fresh start.
He said the right things:
I will maintain an open-door policy.
“I will work hard to earn your trust; I will rely on your support.”
The Portrait of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) is fitting. In that story, Dorian himself remains youthful and vibrant while the portrait that is hung in the back room, securely locked away, records his deeds and the passage of time.
Marc Anthony (Julius Caesar) once said that “The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.”
But we wonder if it is not that the evil that men SHOW lives after them.
Let us call Dorian Gray the diplomatic self of the British and let us refer to what is hidden away in the back rooms, his portrait, as Britain’s true self.
The British are master diplomats. It is partly for that reason that such a small country ruled the world. That was due to Britain’s education, ambition, guile, strategy, wisdom, ruthlessness, patience and, yes, diplomacy.
The British do not conduct their business in brawls and, possibly, cannot respect those who do. They like orderliness; The chest-game approach to battle.
At the swearing in, the Premier played his cards expertly. He sent the correct message that the partnership with the British is “…. a partnership to which I am committed.”
The chess board is now set up and ready for play.
We have three choices:
1. Remain rooted in the past; looking back with longing in our hearts as Lot’s wife did.
2. Embrace the present including doing business with those who may be considered rivals, antagonists, ‘overseers,’ or people we do not like.
3. Carefully chart our course to the future while including elements from 1 and 2 above even if it means some winding paths and ‘dances with wolves.’
If ‘The Crown’ holds any credibility, we saw in one episode where Her Majesty flew to Ghana to dance with President Kwame Nkrumah, to preserve her Commonwealth.
What shouldn’t our leaders be capable of doing to preserve and develop BVI and to put her on the trajectory where she can again be the place that her citizens and residents are proud to call home?
But the question is, are our leaders vested with sufficient integrity and maturity to, sustainably, do this serious work with which we have entrusted them?
Anyone can take the low road but look where it has gotten us!
We must think our way through our chess game. We must be a René Descartes ‘cogito, ergo sum.’ (I think, therefore I am.)
Time will keep the score.
But for now, the reset button is pushed, and, on our Fridays, we will observe if our leaders are thinkers and strategists or brawlers and marchers.
If they only ask, in greedy bills, ‘what the country can do for me,’ rather than what I can do for the country.
Can they see this clean canvas as a gift? Will they have the courage to change their failing strategy?
If the abstract idea of the portrait of Dorian Gray can help them to benefit the Territory, then BVI advances down the true path of self-determination.
And her citizens and residents may yet be spared the ignominy of suspension, partial or otherwise, of her constitution.
Happy Friday!