THE ARCHITECTS OF PARADISE: A Call to Cayman

By Lucille Seymour, MBE, BEM, JP, HON, PhD Humanities

I make it a point to regularly attend the cultural and government events held across our islands. They evoke my cultural inheritance, carrying me gently back to the days of my childhood. I compel myself to go, even though doing so sometimes brings a sudden stream of heavy emotion—and yes, even pain.

Recently, while visiting the post office and wandering along the harbor town, I was struck by a stark, unsettling contrast.

I watched the elderly international tourists visiting our shores. I saw these seniors cruising around our town in wheelchairs or moving slowly with limited mobility. Some were coughing; many could not walk well, appearing frail or relying on the steadying hands of friends and family. Others leaned heavily on walking sticks. Yet, they were fighting through their physical limitations, tendering ashore, absolutely determined to experience the beauty of our island.

Witnessing these visitors fight just to come ashore elevates something deep within me. As an older person myself—a cancer survivor who has overcome Stevens-Johnson disease and survived major surgery—this sight gives me an incredible impetus. It fills me with a wonderful passion for life.

Yet, it also brings me to a heavy, unavoidable realization regarding our own people.

The Gift of Independence vs. The Reality of Isolation

Unbeknownst to many, whilst I understand that many of my own age group, or those somewhat older, must depend entirely on children, family, or caregivers just to take them anywhere, I am blessed. Unlike them, I still possess the precious freedom of independence and the wherewithall to make decisions for myself.

And so, I must stand up and ask the burning questions for those who are currently left without a voice:

• Who is making the decisions so that my senior local colleagues have the freedom to visit cultural and healthy events?

• Who is making those critical decisions to ensure our elders survive well and do not remain trapped, housebound, and isolated?

• Who is deciding to bring them into intellectual company where they can relive great experiences and actively enhance their longevity?

• Who is creating the pathways allowing them to once again be an active part of, and hand down, their invaluable place in cultural Cayman?

• Who is making the decisions to enable them to live well, to come out, to enjoy, and to coexist within an intergenerational society?

A Debt Owed by Government and Family

These are questions I ask not only of my government, but of our families—especially the younger generations to whom our elders completely committed their lives when they themselves were young. The ability to make Caymanian society truly "age-friendly" leans entirely on these questions and on those who should rightfully bear the responsibility.

The high social standing, the comforts, and the immense opportunities our youth hold in their hands today did not happen by accident. They were bought and paid for by the sweat, sacrifice, and youth of an older generation.

Claiming Our Rightful Space

We are the older generation. We are the nation-builders who sacrificed to elevate this land, transforming it into one of the most successful, prosperous, and celebrated nations in this hemisphere outside of North America.

To my senior peers, I say this: Our limitations, our pains, and our physical frailties are not commands to disappear. Our presence is our power. We must plant ourselves firmly in the public square where those who benefit from our sacrifices can see us.

We have all fought through pain to stand in these streets—the tourists to witness paradise, and we to embody it. Let us stand together, visible and resilient, so that Cayman may truly honor the hands that shaped it.

Signed,

Lucille Seymour, MBE, BEM, JP, HON, PhD Humanities

An Older Person for Older Persons

Former Permanent Secretary & Legislator