It took an 18-year-old Caymanian woman with eloquence and conviction to state a fact that should be obvious to most people living and working on these lovely islands.
She is correct in many of her comments and I applaud her for having the courage to send them in.
At some point in time, the majority of us originally came from somewhere else to live here for reasons that are our own.
The majority of expatriates working here truly love the Cayman Islands and enjoy working with indigenous (all family members born here) Caymanians that we have the pleasure of knowing.
We are not all here to make money. We are here because we want to live here, not because we have to live here.
We work in harmony with people from all walks of life, we do our best to respect the laws of the land and many of us volunteer our limited free time to help keep these islands clean.
My place of employment is always eager to hire Caymanians that are qualified to fill the position they are applying for and we do our best to suggest ways they can improve their qualifications or experience so they may progress and fulfil their employment goals by getting the job they want.
It may not always work out because working long, hard hours in very demanding jobs is not what everyone wants to do; they may not be interested in putting in 60-plus hours a week, every week, in very stressful, physically challenging jobs.
Sometimes these same Caymanians realise that this is not what they had in mind as a career and opt to move to a less demanding, cleaner environment.
That, of course, is their choice and so they decide to find a different type of job.
My point is that if work permits were not such an issue, then perhaps having more freedom of employment and filling quotas would not be causing so many hard feelings amongst both expats and indigenous Caymanians.
I think in the overall scope of life between birth and death, we all want to live contented lives, doing valuable work and contributing to society to make it a better place for all.
My previous experience has taught me that it doesn’t matter who is working alongside me, as long as they are able and willing to pull their weight and do their job.
I believe that the young lady who wrote the article will succeed very well in her life because she has the right attitude to go forward and make positive changes in all that she does.
May God bless her and guide her so that she may one day be in a position to enlighten others who are wallowing in the ‘poor me’ syndrome.
Life is what you make it every day, so let’s try to make it for the betterment of society as a whole. You get back tenfold what you give.
Barbara Anley
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