Judge Cyril Michael was early to bed. But in the middle of the night, a fly on the wall would find him in his study hard at work. The first municipal judge of the Virgin Islands, like many of his era, had responsibilities — not just to a day job or personal doings but to the very foundations of a community.
He — and brother-in-law J. Antonio Jarvis and bandmate Alton Adams — had made a choice to trade their Danish citizenship for a chance to help build a new place: the U.S. Virgin Islands. And they didn’t, they couldn’t take it lightly.
You probably have ancestors who made the same or similar choices.
So Thursday morning, when the Cyril Michael Street signs were unveiled on the former Bjerge Gade, I had a look around. Here were people to note. I’m not talking politics or policy here. I’m talking society, trust, and respect. Who wanted to put on a jacket and tie and come down in the hot morning sun to the (lovely by the way, under such gorgeous and historic mahogany trees, with the soft cooing of birds in a nice breeze) area where people keep getting shot? People who care.
For some of those people, it was their job. And that’s beautiful because if it’s your job to care, care. Or, to put it another way, people who care should have those jobs.
And some of those people were there because it’s their life. Friends and family and friends who are family, that’s what I think of when the World Happiness Survey asks: “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them, or not?”
The official survey did not poll the Virgin Islands or other areas of relatively-low population. So, we are.
In weeks past I asked about your sense of the territory’s (and your own) financial health, perception of corruption, freedom to make choices in your life, and generosity. I’m still getting responses to each so please write to localtourist340@gmail.com if you care to chime in.
I heard a researcher on the radio once asked what she considered the first sign of human civilization. Could she define when we went from herd animal to mankind? I’d heard an answer to this question before in which the scientist said beer. When there was enough excess and skill to plan ahead, creating not just an intoxicant but a food source (high-calorie, liquid bread, basically) that didn’t spoil, that was civilization. The following expert had a different take, however — one I found more satisfying.
They found evidence of a broken leg healed. Some ancient person had suffered a horrible, immobilizing injury. They were essentially lion food were it not for the people around. They reset the leg bone and protected, fed, and nursed the injured soul for months while the limb healed. That, a combination of compassion and know-how, was what set humans apart from other animals.
Cursed by our big brains or blessed, my jury is still out. What is for sure, however, is that self-awareness has given us choice. We can be trustworthy, caring, responsible friends and neighbors or be lying, manipulative, self-serving loners — crabs in a bucket dragging each other down in a failed attempt to find false freedom.
I was not on island for the hurricanes of 2017 but I suspect those who were learned who they could trust. I suspect some folks learned a little more about themselves too. The world can be your mirror if you care to look.
I was in Manhattan for the COVID lockdowns and saw the ties of social support bind people together. If anything, shared emergencies and general tough times might make us closer.
This is maybe the most personal question I have to ask in our informal, thoroughly unscientific happiness survey: Do you have people in your life you trust? Are there folks you could call on if you were in real trouble?
Let’s say you needed someone to hold $17,000 and your passport for a long weekend. Is that person there for you? Is it more than one person?
What if you fell terribly ill? Would someone come to feed you?
How much can you depend on others? How much can they depend on you? On a scale of 0 (I have no support) to 10 (I have many dependable people around me) how much social support do you have if things went wrong?
Send your answers to localtourist340@gmail.com along with your island of residence or if you live abroad. I won’t share your name but feel free to give examples of the good in society. I’ll take the bad and the ugly too, but I prefer the good.
I’m sure a lot of people wanted to be there, the other morning when the Cyril Michael Street signs went up but were unable. So, here’s one more note on the first municipal judge of the Virgin Island, who’s home Round The Field now sits on a street bearing his name.
In almost all the photos you can find of Cyril Michael he wears a serious if not stern face. Almost all. His eldest daughter has an undated, black-and-white snapshot of the judge and his wife, educator Elizabeth Michael, wearing pontoon-style life vests. I’m told it was a lifeboat drill for a yesteryear cruise of some sort. They are clearly suppressing smiles, straining not to giggle at the ridiculous indignity of it all.
We are each other’s mirror. It’s good to have people to depend on.
