Recalling the Dominican Republic

The world is filled with ironies.  Every time I feel inspired to write by some event, circumstance or emotion, I’m too busy being wrapped up in that thing, or I’m too mentally drained by it, to actually sit down and type.  And then, when I actually have free time to write, I lack inspiration. 

At the moment, I’d like to say something about the Dominican Republic and my time there.  I’d like to write about the thick and beautiful greenery that billowed up from below the airplane as we descended into Santo Domingo on the way in.  I’d like to tell you about the warm evenings, when the mosquitoes would appear and begin biting at almost exactly the same time every day.  And that despite that, I loved the hot days followed by heavy, warm rain and thunder and lightning.

I’d like to say something about each of the slums we visited, and how there was such a marked difference between the physical appearance of those places and the rest of the city.  About how people shouldn’t have to live in wood-and-sheet metal shanties, with piss running through the muddy streets around them, simply because their parents were born on the wrong side of the island or because the sugarcane plantation owners could make a few extra pesos by letting someone else do the work.  I’d like to get a little angry at the Dominican government leaders, who deny citizenship to people of Haitian descent who were born in those slums, simply because their parents or grandparents overstayed their welcome. 

I’d like to talk about how glad I am that at least some of the people there aren’t willing to just let that kind of injustice go.  And that several of the kids from those slums are aware of the ways in which those people have helped them, and they see the continued need around them, and want to help others.  I’d like to say that, despite the depressing conditions of those slums, seeing that small ripple effect begin to grow gives me a reason to be at least a tiny bit optimistic. 

I’d like to say all of that, and say it well.  With flourishes and moving language and insightful observations and humor, laid out in a page full of engaging prose.  But unfortunately I’m two weeks removed from the Dominican Republic and I simply cannot muster the inspiration.  At least not until I sit and think for a while about all those banana trees, sugarcane spears, friendly faces, the bright sun overhead ....