Another Day in Paradise

So in many ways people believe that the Caribbean is paradise - that is how we market ourselves to get tourists! Beautiful beaches, sand, sun ... and it always amuses me when people come on holiday and they get a 10 day taste of the island they really think here is perfect. The best is when they think of moving to Barbados and working "on the beach with their laptop" ... they can't believe we aren't doing that already! Well except for the impracticality and all the sand getting in our keyboards...I guess we also have a case of not appreciating what we have until it is gone...I have been traveling so much this year that July 2010 when I had friends visiting and when I was working with some French students here was the first time I made it to the beach in Barbados - I know it is a sin! But we have it right there, so we don't feel the need to go to it everyday....this made me wonder what else in my life do I take for granted? That is right there but I don't call on until an emergency...

Barbados has been a relatively safe and peaceful island but I must admit reading the newspapers lately I wonder where I am - the doctors are on strike, the sanitation workers are on strike...last weekend three people were killed - this is not the Barbados I know and moved to when I was 9 years old back in 1990 - it looks like finally all the evils of the world are catching up with this "paradise"...