So, the SS BVI is taking on water.  But her Captain and Crew are oblivious.  The ship has been without a chart and compass for some time, aimlessly drifting out to the high seas where she is battered by the waves.

Her Admiral, who is responsible for law and order, appears to be open to a mutiny.  Any minute now, the ship may be boarded by ‘friendlies’ and overrun.

The Admiral’s stance in the context of the COI is intriguing.  The COI is allowing for a necessary, hard reset, but he cannot escape his complicity in some of the ship’s damages.  It may not matter.  The lone COI Commissioner is already holding him to a different standard.

And there are strange occurrences on deck.  Visitors come in large numbers on cruise ships but spending is minimal.  The SS BVI is slowly losing her overnight guests but ‘the brass’ does not notice for the captain is too impressed with the numbers.

We are glad to have the cruise passengers for they provide a means of livelihood for many nationals and they pay the loan for the Pier Park.  We just love the word ‘SUSTAINABLE.’

It seems that ships homeporting in the Caribbean that do not call in US territory are magnets for certain nationals who abscond on the SS BVI but immediately disappear.

The captain is aware but his advisors are failing him.  The SS BVI must not be a conduit for lawlessness.

The ship’s plight reminds me of my dear nephew who, foolishly, left JVD for Tortola on a small boat, in high seas, in the dead of a moon lit night.  

A rogue wave was all it took and he was overboard.  The ‘kill switch’ was not attached to his person so the boat sailed on and his swim through the valley of the shadows begun.

Reaching Tortola was out of the question.  The tide was against him.  It was two hours of a harrowing ordeal before he returned to safety on JVD.

He gambled with his life and won, that time.  

But the SS BVI has made some dangerous manoeuvres that gambles the future of generations to come.  That her most flamboyant captain is sailing on other seas is testament enough.

National pride is essential to the progress of any nation but it hardly exists on the SS BVI.  But it is what protects everyone.

Is it any wonder that the ship is rusted?  Is it surprising that her hull needs repair?  Is it concerning that the Captain’s agents can stop his own nationals from fishing while trawlers rape her waters with impunity and non-nationals with or without licenses catch fish as little as inches long?

And who cares that her merchants are better attended on foreign soil but cannot get timely services to clear their vessels of merchandise at home?

And what of her public servants interdicted from work?   

Do we feel such comfort in allowing each other’s ruin that timely, due process is no longer important?

But the Admiral is in charge of security and his agenda has always been a mystery since he does not discuss his stewardship with his passengers.  He should.  He believes in transparency and good governance.

As simplistic as it sounds, if we do not develop national pride; we will have no abiding loyalty to the SS BVI.  We will not be concerned if she sinks as long as a personal life raft exists.

(And, as it was on the RMS Titanic, those with dedicated lifeboats are traveling first class for they run the politics and economics of the Territory.)

We will not protect her and demand that our guests and guest workers fall in line.  We will not keep her clean.  We will not maintain her hull; Her engines.  

Open your eyes!

Every other country looks after and protects its nationals.  Is our captain afraid to protect his?  Is he rattled that our guest workers continue to say that ‘BVIslanders have a sense of entitlement?’

If they can’t have a sense of entitlement in their own country, where are they expected to have it?

And yet, our guests from those other countries have their protection policies, their cabotage laws that help to give national recognition and instill national pride.

My heart skipped several beats a fortnight ago as I listened, in pain, to my nephew’s story while thinking on where his youthful exuberance and poor judgment could have landed the family.

Then, the SS BVI flashed across my bow and my pain knew no bounds.  Still, like my nephew, she can be saved and made seaworthy;

Again.

That is why we offer an opinion on Fridays.

Happy Friday!