The last
business on Colon’s Bottle Alley is gone. Barberia
Frank’s proprietor, Olivia Fallas, has died.
I haven’t
noticed any mention of the elderly barber’s passing in the
mainstream media. I haven’t received any emails about
it.
No, instead I
have received a number of emails from people in the United
States who have suddenly taken an interest in Panama because
the next version of the staged “reality” television
show “Survivor” will be set in this country’s
Perlas Islands.
Reasonable
Panamanians can and will argue about how significant a news
story it is for this country. Millions of people will see some
beautiful scenes from Panama, and some of them will be inspired
to visit and spend money here. They’ll come here looking
for a TV illusion, but we just might be able to give them a
positive impression with the reality. Like the Miss Universe
pageant, this is a legitimate business story.
But of course,
you guys who have been sending the emails want the REAL SCOOP.
Well, OK --- tell them you read it here first. We are reliably
informed that the “Survivor” jungle adventure to be
recorded in Panama WILL include blowgun wars, but WILL NOT
feature any cannibalism. No word yet on headhunting. Sheena
won’t be around to rescue those who step on a sea urchin
or stumble into a black palm.
For me,
Survivor is most noteworthy as an emblem of how far removed a
large segment of the American public mind is from the real
world.
Similarly,
Olivia Fallas, like another old friend who recently died, John
Jansen, is an emblem of something larger.
Olivia came to
Colon from Bocas del Toro and began cutting hair at Fort
Sherman during World War II. It had been a half-century or so
since she worked for the US Army, but the American military
didn’t have any better friends than Olivia. A small part
of it was ideological --- she once told me that “someone
has to be the policeman, and only the Americans can do
it.” A much larger part was that she simply liked
Americans. On the whole, gringos of the sort who join the armed
forces are more respectful of working people like Olivia than
wealthier Panamanians are. Americans tend to be better tippers
of waitresses, less likely to be abusive of domestic employees,
and possessed of an egalitarian sense of justice that’s
alien to those who run the Panamanian legal system. Olivia
never went to the United States but she knew a lot of gringos
and generally liked them.
There are
various individuals and groups promoting the return of the US
military to Panama as the answer to this country’s
problems. Most of them see the Americans as a source of well-
paid jobs and lucrative contracts. But America’s best
friends on the isthmus are not motivated by such pathetic
welfare dependent motives. Certainly Olivia, who had to be at
least 80 years old and worked almost until the day she died,
did not like the gringos because she expected a handout. She
was a friend who was made, not bought, and as such she
represented a phenomenon that ought to be of interest to US
foreign policy makers.
Johannes
Cornelius (John) Jansen was another noteworthy type. A retired
Dutch sea captain, he spent most of his working life sailing
around the former Dutch empire and parts in between, lived in
Brazos Heights for a number of years and retired to Santa
Clara. When he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he decided that
he had lived a full life and declined medical treatment that
went beyond treating the pain. Well before his illness, he told
me that he approves of the practice in Holland, where a
terminally ill patient can opt for euthanasia.
John was for
freedom as the Dutch tend to conceive of it. Although the
Netherlands has some odious colonial episodes in its history,
the Dutch don’t go around carpet bombing other countries
in the name of some abstract freedom. For them, freedom is not
an idealistic slogan but a series of rights that they exercise
and enjoy.
Among certain
sections of American public opinion, Amsterdam enjoys a
reputation akin to that of Gomorrah. Bare-breasted blondes on
TV, pot smoking in cafes, the right to choose euthanasia and
the concept of liberty from which these phenomena arise
seriously offend the sort of Americans who are most eager to
dispatch troops in the name of freedom.
But John, like
most Dutchmen, was actually pretty conservative about most
things. He didn’t embrace any radical political, religious
or economic philosophies. Willing to concede people’s
right to choose how to run their own lives, he also expected
them to take responsibility for the choices they made. He was
quick to distinguish juega vivo --- the Panamanian culture of
corruption and betrayal --- from freedom.
For those of
you whose concept of reality is formed by a Hollywood jungle
survival game show, it might be difficult to understand freedom
the way that the Dutch do. An appreciation of this way of
thinking, however, will make you much the wiser.
This issue will
take you near and far, from Panama Viejo to the Western Sahara. The problems that the Panamanian
government is creating for those who have embraced the yachting
lifestyle are featured in our Travel and Business sections. Our Opinion columns get into
public issues in New Jersey and the European Union that ought
to interest people here in Panama. (If international call centers are the new growth sector down here, you
should know about the objections posed elsewhere. If Europe is
to regulate the dumping of toxic ships, Panamanians would be negligent
to ignore the issue until we can see the asbestos washing onto
our beaches.) We cross the Costa Rican border in our Outdoors
section to look at an environmental restoration effort, and in our Spanish
news pages to ponder the international reach of Colombia’s death
squads. We visit the Balboa Theater for a night of classical music, and ponder Barro Colorado Island bats who have been turned into Bob Marley fans. We
take a glance at the Azuero, where a community held a benefit to get the water running
at its public school. A visit to the Panamanian Business
Executives Association monthly economic forum has given us our
lead stories in the News and Business sections.
We also pay
attention to stories that interest the mainstream media.
However, the significance of “offshore asset protection
guru” Marc Harris’s arrest is examined from a
different perspective here. (Is he YOUR guru? You really ought
to change your religion if that’s the case.)
Am I getting
too controversial here? Is that Sparky the Wonder Dog giving me a warning bark?
Enjoy, my
friends.
