I was present on Sunday at St George’s Jamaican Independent/Emancipation Day Service and our leader of the Opposition McKeeva Bush was there and in fine form when he spoke.

He made the point that everyone of us wants to be independent. From a child and onwards he said. I agree with him up to a point. He, of course, took the opportunity to bash the tyrannical British masters that are corrupt and continue to make a mess of everything and everyone they try and manage. He forgot to make comparisons with all the other countries that mess up even more who are independent of the British tyrants.

However, he did make a point I hadn’t considered – we all like to be independent from childhood.

Charlotte Bronte said it well in Jane Eyre, ““I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

And Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man) said this thought provoking passage: “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.”

Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead): “Freedom (n.): To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.”

Emma Goldman: “People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.”

This “Unknown” quote I really like: “Any independent and strong person will learn how to be alone. But it’s nice to have someone around to share your life with. It’s a gift of life that’s hard to find.”

I wanted to ask Mr Bush but didn’t get the opportunity if it is always a good thing to be independent? If we were all independent without any rules there would be complete chaos.

Being independent is something we might cherish but being independent is not always a good thing.

Even in business you may not be independent. A lot of restaurants and hotels for instance belong to some corporation/chain. The benefit is the branding and the bulk purchasing.

Scotland had the power to become independent from Britain but the people themselves voted against it.

Most of the time the British Dependencies like us make our own decisions until we mess things up and tell our masters to in effect “Get Lost!”. And Mr. Bush, we, sorry I mean you, did mess up and telling the master’s representative to “Go and sun your buns” is not likely to get a good hearing on your demands. Even good ones.

I am quite sure the Cayman Islands will become Independent one day. When the people want it and not when one of its leaders wants the power and the control.