A paradise for who

A typical view of a typical Caribbean house. Goats and people live in what seems like great harmony with one another and on most islands that we've been on, these animals come and go as they want. They run around in towns and villages, in the middle of the roads, by the beach or in the woods, they eat from wherever they find grass, branches and leaves until a dog chase them off but only to find another field of grass to enjoy before they get back home to their owners when the sun goes down. Life seems much easier and less complicated here in the Caribbean, both for humans and goats.

I got a comment by a reader the other day who wanted to point out that I was being slanderous and offensive towards the Caribbean people when I one day wanted to express how thankful I am for my/our life and I recognized that "we are where we are because we have taken us here" - and the next thing I did was to talk about Caribbean banana-farmers that "have had to deal with colonial masters since the beginning of the time" as she wanted to insist, and that my attitude and thoughts about my own life was viewed as offensive towards the people who, according to her, does not have the same possibilities to chase their dreams. 

Personally I haven't met this ignorant assumption before and that is because I believe most of us understand that a majority of the people around here on these islands are living a life that they want to, that there is no reason to pity or feel sorry for them. In fact the life of a Caribbean family or man is probably much more untroubled than the lives of the ones living in the Western world, where we have managed to create so many stressful problems for ourselves. Most of these people around in the Caribbean own their houses and land since many generations back as that was given to the people when the English and the French colonists left Caribbean -which means the people here do not need to pay rent for the place where they live. Most of the Caribbean locals grow their own food, they got plentiful of fish and veggies to eat and most of them seem to live in a comfortably slow and enjoyable pace. And who wouldn't be happy with such beauty around, possibility to swim the clearest waters, have all the time in the world to spend with their families as none of them knows what is the word stress.

Most of the people here doesn't chase more and bigger dreams, they are happy and content with what they have, something that we as well could learn something from. Also it is important to know that the slavery was abolished for around 200 years ago, I think I almost assumed that this was the general knowledge out there but there I was obviously wrong. On islands like these where women get kids in their late teenage years, it is as many as 12-15 generations back now, that the slavery disappeared. Should we pity everyone in later generations for something that happened back in the days, or should we try to see everyone as individuals and feel happiness for the ones that have found their way of living, when they're happy with their personal situation? Just like Alex and I are, just like the people of the Caribbean are.

Those of you who've been here in the West Indies, what are your general opinion of the people of the Caribbean, do you think we should feel sorry for them for the slavery of the 18th century or do you believe that they are happy as they are, with what they have today? Looking forward to an interesting conversation.