What Does It Mean to Be Caribbean
What does it mean to be Caribbean? To be Caribbean is sitting together with family laughing and crying eating home cooked meals seasoned with the rich herbs and spices of the land washed by the Caribbean Sea. Being Caribbean is sugar spice and everything nice. We as a people give helping hands to one another ignoring what race or culture we come from because it is natural to us because everyone is mixed; being Caribbean is adapting and accepting to things that seem different to others but is normal for us because WE are one, I am Caribbean a mixture of a Curacao born father and a Anguilla born mother but born breed and raised St.
Maartener. What is that definable Caribbean Identity? Sharing similar cultures on different islands even though we speak different languages we are still able to relate to each other. Most Caribbean islands are a territory for larger countries or nations but we all share European and African ancestries. You can identify that every island you go to in the Caribbean we are a proud people. We are identifiable by the fact that we were the center of the triangular trade.
From Africa to the Caribbean and then to America but the fact that we were mixed in between that process causes us to be identified as the Caribbean the chain of islands which form that archipelago where countries where form and lifestyles where developed and mostly where we adapt so well, because it’s our nature we are embedded in a synergy of culture customs and tradition that we all share some way or another. And how you make the distinction between being a citizen of your country and being Caribbean? Being Caribbean opens my eyes to different cultures and norms that I might not be accustomed too.
Being Caribbean gives a broader view to life outside the box so to speak. Although being a citizen of St. Maarten gives me the opportunity to experience over a 140 different nations and numerous cultures the distinction is me being a citizen of my country allows me to have my own identity not just that dot in the Caribbean chain of islands. St. Maarten is a very important island for other islands I consider my country as the bread winner for other countries. We are the melting pot of cultures and we are a hub for smaller islands. We bring people to the Caribbean and we share our wealth because that’s what we do we are a friendly people!
