Call me foolish but I really was shaken when I got the call around 5 a.m. this morning. It felt like it had been so long that he had been ill that I had started to convince myself he would hold on and be in that small sliver of those who survive pancreatic cancer.
Like most Barbadians home and away I am saddened. It really is a personal tragedy writ large. He's not even 50. His children aren't even done raised yet. It truly is unfair and makes you wonder why.
For most of my life (and most of his) we have witnessed David Thompson in pursuit of power. We knew he wanted it. Many wanted it for him and saw him as destined for it.
And certainly he struggled for it long and hard. Fourteen years in opposition is a long, cold, bitter winter.
And when finally he got what he had desired for so long and what he and his family had sacrificed for, he barely got to enjoy it.
Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying 'oh, if only he had never become PM, he would be here today.' Maybe we could have made that argument with Barrow who died of a heart attack but being Prime Minister doesn't give you cancer.
It's just horrid, horrible fate and I don't know that I can approach it with equanimity and say 'oh it is probably for the best' and 'at least he is out of his pain'.
It cannot be for the best that a man who is only 48 and still has a very young child is dead. It never can be, whether it is the Prime Minister or the postman.
It is tragic and unfair. My heart goes out to his family - thank you for sharing with us for all these many years.
