We Belong To Each Other...

While sitting on a park bench in Harris Square, Port of Spain, I managed to look up into the tree under which I sat. The day was hot and humid, but my discomfort and demeanour changed when I visualised what was above me. Something wonderful stirred in me, and I had to take a photograph.

As one of my favourite photographs, I wanted to pen exactly what I felt in context of how we treat each other. I sat there staring at the magnificence of the network of the branches and twigs; there was unity. In my poem titled: 'Same Color' published in my anthology Show Me Equality (2010) I framed in my mind how we ridicule, insult, deride, embarrass and continue to be at war with each other. It seems that some of us are always fighting for superiority instead of unity. Here are the lines:

This man broken...cut me open!

What do you see inside of me?

Blood! Green blood? Blue blood? Black blood?

Jew or gentile blood?

No, it's blood! Simply blood...

Rip my heart from open chest,

Yes...you guess,

Same color; no pallor.

Whether we want to believe it or not, we are all part of a very big family. Isn't it interesting that we are all related? Even if we believe in the 'Adam and Eve' or the 'Scientific Adam' story, we came from the same root, drink the same life-giving water and inhaled the same oxygen. Despite the truth, some would continue to argue about who is better than whom. We were born on the Earth, and note carefully, all of us are born of the Earth; we all came from the Earth! We were not born elsewhere, not on Venus or Jupiter. We came from the same dirt, the same mud and mire; the same clay in which plants grow and produce food to sustain life. Everything we possess or think that we own came from the Earth. The Earth provides sustenance and feeds all of us. Food is not shipped from Mars.

Some people, from whence they emerged, may possess more“things,” more food, more water, more land, and more privileges. In one of my courses titled: Rural Economic Development at Kansas State University (K-State), we discussed why some countries in the Caribbean region are still struggling economically, not to mention the anger of Huracan that hit some of them annually that cause further distress. Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) became the outlier on the trend line. It was seen that T&T was more developed than most Small Island Developing States (SIDS). When I asked the professor why was this so, he simply said,“location, location, location; oil and gas.” From that point, the discussion went headlong into 'Location Theory.'

Many of these SIDS depend on an agrarian way of life and the tourist industry at the expense of sometimes alienating their citizens. Trinidad and Tobago wasn't an exception. An instance of this alienation is recorded in the article 'The Nasty Side of Tourism Development: an example from Trinidad and Tobago' that I published in the eReview of Tourism Research (eRTR)Vol.2 No.1, 2004:

“The paper placed focus on what can happen to locals when the political directorate allows the large-scale development of tourism without the establishment of the“right- of-passage” to the citizens or natives of the said territory.

Observations in certain Caribbean tourist spots such as Tobago, Grenada, Saint Vincent, and Barbados, show that locals appear to be in very subservient positions within the tourism industry. They also tend to accept what is 'given' to them by tourists. Many locals would even give up their places on certain beaches because of tourists. It is agreed upon that without tourism, many Caribbean states would go 'belly-up' but it does not mean that any 'native' of any particular island should be made less of a human being, even to the point of being shot to death in his/her own territory.

Despite the late start, tourism is becoming increasingly important in Trinidad and Tobago. Would this increasing importance meet the needs of the masses? Will the tourism development plans be all inclusive? Will citizens suffer as second-class people? Will the people be compelled to give up their 'right-of-passage' to accommodate corporate giants and tourists? The mad rush to develop beaches and resorts, to manipulate the environment in Trinidad, and especially in Tobago, is now meeting with some opposition.

Who would like to find their child lying dead on one of Tobago's finest beaches? One does not have to go far for an answer. Naomi Elliot found her son fatally shot on Pigeon Point Beach, Tobago. Shot to death by a security guard was boat cleaner and straw-hat maker, Michael Theophilus Melville. The Pigeon Point Beach Club, owned and operated by the ANSA/McAl Group of Companies employed the security guard. The problem arose because the Pigeon Point Beach Club denied citizens their right-of-passage to the beach.”

In our drive for 'development' it does not mean that anyone is better or worse than the person next door. Similar to the branches and twigs belonging to the tree I admired, we are all connected in some form or the other. Do we not all breathe the same air? Can anyone on this Earth determine which molecule of oxygen they will breathe in today or tomorrow? Do you pick and choose the air that you breathe? The canopy above me talked with a different tone; a tone of togetherness, unity, and understanding...connectivity. Published in 'Show Me Equality' the poem The Exchange gives voice to this integral air exchange:

Eyes of blue, eyes of brown,

See green as green, and brown as brown,

My air; our air?

I breathe your air, you breathe my air,

Nothing strange

The air exchange,

Still your air, and my air,

Is someone else's air

Whose air?

As the canopy of the tree demonstrated, connectivity, abstract and asymmetrical as it may seem, accommodates all directions. Some of us do not recognize this aspect of life. In view of this connectivity, plants are connected with all of us, even deeper than we think. However, we become disconnected when we see or visualize a community as 'we' and 'them.' Yes, when we ignore the plurality; yes, when we cease to recognize the mind-boggling variety in nature we develop a disconnect.

In the photograph, I saw branches and twigs intersecting, reaching out, stretching to each other, saying,“We are one! We belong to each other. Let us form this canopy.” I saw interdependence a spiritual sharing, unsurpassed. The branches said:“Let us spread the love...let us glorify our creator; let us unite to make a good thing happen!” 'Twas an example, as though nature wanted to make a sterling announcement to me about the world in which we live.

In that brief but inspirational moment, it was clear that we as humans should live in harmony. As the branches were, I surmised that we are all different, but not at all deficient. Harmony yes, but today we have wars and rumours of war; sabers are rattling in every corner of the globe. Presently, the world as we know it, is drowning in disagreements east, west, north and south.

The branches, as well as the twigs on the periphery, had a role to play; they all factored! All contributed to make up the whole; a canopy so refreshingly beautiful. This immaculate view transmitted to my mentality that no one is useless; no one is dysfunctional or deformed; some just prefer to take another route, another road, another avenue, another direction. There was no argument about who is better or greater.

Each branch of that tree took the opportunity to explore its very own potential, its own environment, its very own style and appreciation of space. Nonetheless, each was committed to the task; the formation of a network, full of art and music; the essence of life. Such a lesson book of wisdom! The branches and distal twigs believed in each other. What a holy and wonderful orchestration of unity and purpose!

Should we not in this human network of souls harmonize and reach out to each other? Should we not we make music together? Just as the branches and twigs in this canopy, we must work together, we must, with a powerful synergy shape a better place, a better life with overflowing bushels of hope for all. Could we begin this journey right now? Could we start beating our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks?

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