Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter

Despite their profession, some of our local taxi men are either well read or keep up with current affairs better than some 'intellectuals'.

So, while I was grabbing a ride to Constant Spring one evening, Joe started to talk about governments, their negative policies and how they affect the people they rule.

"You see, sometimes I think that people don't want change. They sit and they complain but they don't do anything about it," he reasoned. I saw his point. He then went radical; opining that it would take a person or persons with extraordinary will to bring about the revolution.

Difference makers

"You know what we need? We need a guy like John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King Jr.; that's what we need," he said. Apparently, he had lost all faith in the alleged difference makers around today. I pointed out, however, that both Kennedy and King had been assassinated. And that's when he really went off.

"That's what I'm saying. I was there, right there man. I was there in the '60s man. Two great men and they shot 'em," he said, pounding his right fist against the top of the steering wheel. I was a little startled at his vehemence but since he didn't lose control of the vehicle I kept calm. "There they were trying to make a change, trying to do something and they shot 'em," he continued.

I put it to him that we wouldn't see a King Jr. or Kennedy type because a lot of persons only believe in self-preservation and subsistence.

"I totally agree with that," he said. "We're too afraid to die for what we believe in. That's why nothing is gonna change."

At the end of the journey, it was good to meet a Joe who didn't spend all his time talking about women. Nothing wrong with that by the way, but at least it was good conversation nonetheless.