My Irish Caribbean Connection

Day 604, 19:22 • Published in Ireland Cuba • by Harrilal

As explained earlier, I am from Trinidad and Tobago. In my first days on the eInternational scene, I decided I would live in eVenezuela due to its extreme proximity to my true home. Fun fact: Trinidad is physically closer to Venezuela than it is to her sister island of Tobago. Anyway, despite having a reasonable handle on the Spanish language and the friendliness of the eVenezuelans, I felt as though I didn't quite belong. So I packed up and moved out to eIreland.

A few days after my move, I was asked several times why I chose to live in eIreland. What is the connection between me and eIreland? Why not eCanada or the eU.K? Well, there are a number of reasons and I will put them all on the table. For the first few reasons, we must step out of the eWorld and back into Reality. Stop whining! It's only for a little bit then you can go back to the Clickworld. Yes, I know it's an escape to play the game, but come on... it won't hurt... much.

Ireland, believe it or not, has a long history with the islands of the Caribbean.
As many Irish will tell you, they once were (and depending who you talk to, still are) considered second and third class citizens and even property. It was even worse if they were Catholic. This particular story can get very very long and depressing, but the short version is this: many Irish during the era of colonial slavery were tricked, exiled/sentenced or simply kidnapped then forced to work on Caribbean plantations (yes, Irish slaves). Even some of my own ancestors were brought to the Caribbean in this fashion.

Some islands had such an increase in Irish population that the Irish (or descendants of) eventually came to power. The island of Montserrat (known as the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean) is probably the greatest testament to that. One only needs to look at their flag (Erin holding a harp) to make the connection. In Trinidad, the Irish never quite rose to power but their presence was not unknown. Modern day Trinidad and Ireland have fairly good relations and there are a few exchange programs. Many of my teachers were Irish (or had Irish parentage), as were several of our priests.

I was never taught any of the culture, but it’s always been reinforced by the family that we are Irish and that even though the Irish customs have been assimilated or destroyed by various factors, we will always be Irish. So, given my loyalty to my country and region (T&T and the Caribbean), the friendly relations between the Caribbean and Ireland, and my familial connection to Ireland, it is understandable that I might be inclined to set up shop in eIreland.

Alrighty! That wasn’t too bad was it? It was only three paragraphs. Now we can go into the in-game reasoning behind my decision. Reality, be gone!

eIreland, at the time of my moving (and still at the time of this writing) was a neutral country (whose sovereignty and neutrality is respected by most, if not all). As a newcomer to the scene, this was highly appealing. I would not have to immediately worry about war and could concentrate on getting on my feet.

It would be easy to have just moved to eHungary or the eU.S. and be a top dog from the get go, but even though I am not a fan of military action, some kind of a struggle is still needed. Ireland is relatively smaller than average and can be considered somewhat of an underdog. Forgive me for being a sucker to the cliché, but I seriously love an underdog. To see eIreland stick to her principles without compromising her integrity then rise to the top would be truly amazing.

And of course, to echo what I said in my first article, after the fact I discovered that the eIrish community is incredibly friendly and welcoming. When the eCaribbean islands (in whatever form they take) are implemented and I leave to join my comrades, I will definitely be pushing for a friendly relationship between us and eIreland.

So for those who have skipped to the bottom to see a summary, here you are:

Why Ireland, Harrilal?
- English speaking
- RL Historical connections
- RL Familial connections
- Continued friendship between the RL Caribbean and Ireland
- eNeutrality
- eUnderdog
- Friendly eCommunity

This ended up being a lot more personal that I thought it would be, but that’s alright. I think it gets my point across. Now, whenever someone asks me, I can just point them here and skip having to type it all out again.

Together we aspire! Together we achieve!