Residents of the Virgin Islands have long been complaining about the many potholes, some of them very hazardous, in the Virgin Islands. Photo: VINO/File

A pothole that sat for months, damaging vehicles and slowing traffic, finally got filled. Not by Public Works. By the drivers themselves. They pooled money, bought materials, and fixed it between fares.

In Virgin Gorda, residents went further. People now “adopt” potholes. Each person takes responsibility for a stretch of road and tops it up when the holes return. Not because they want to. Because they no longer expect anyone else to act.

These are not feel-good stories about community spirit. They are quiet admissions of failure. When citizens start doing government’s basic work, something has broken.

So when political organizing gets dismissed as “hunger for power” or “madness,” it misses the point entirely.

What exactly is the alternative? Keep waiting. Keep watching the same cycle. Keep hoping the outcome changes.

The taxi drivers did not wake up wanting to repair roads. They wanted proper infrastructure. The Virgin Gorda residents did not dream of maintaining craters. They wanted roads that work.

Citizens who organize politically come from the same place. Not ambition. Fatigue.

Waiting has not worked.

We are told new parties failed before. We are reminded of past attempts. As if trying once means trying forever is forbidden.

That logic makes no sense anywhere else in life. People try. They learn. They adjust. They try again. That is how progress happens. The only real failure is stopping.

In the same breath, many admit the government is ineffective. They admit there is no long-term plan. No clear vision. Stagnation everywhere.

If that is true, then what response is acceptable? Silence. Endurance. Obedience.

The experience argument always follows. New people do not know how things work. They are not ready.

Experience only matters when it produces results. Years in office without delivery is not wisdom. It is repetition.

What has experience delivered? Where will the territory be in ten years. What is the plan. How do we get there.

If those answers are missing, experience is not a shield. It is a question.

The taxi drivers fixing potholes are not greedy. The residents adopting roads are not power hungry. They are responding to neglect.

Citizens who organize politically deserve the same understanding.

They are not the problem.

They are the response.