Existing comment:
Retrospective:
Time and again, solicited or otherwise, Caymanians who lived in those times remark on the deep feeling of community that existed. The lean conditions had produced a people highly dependent on each other -- frequently for the essentials of life -- and this notion of "the people together" would later be seen as the most salient feature of life up to the '60s and early '70s. Said George Town resident Brainard Watler: "I don't believe another generation will see what we saw in those days. We were raised in a good time. We knew some of the hard, we knew some of the good, we had discipline, and we were taught good manners. To me, my childhood was a happy and secure time. I consider myself to be blessed an doubly blessed to be born in this little island at the time that I was and to live with the people. It was the people that made this place; we lived and go along so well."
In 2003, Farmer Otto Walter offered an interesting perspective: "The days when you had the donkey and the horse, Cayman was twice as small as it is now because we used to spend time with one another. People those days didn't die from stress; now everybody is so busy making that dollar that they have no time for themselves, never mind their relatives or friends. Yes, we have gained a lot of conveniences, but we have lost time for one another; Caymanians have lost time." |