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6 7 Hurricanes Irma & Maria H urricanes have been a constant threat to life and limb in the Caribbean region since the dawn of time. But the people of those island countries have always been resilient, and even in the face of death and destruction, positive repercussions have sometimes ensued. For example, how different would America have been without the hurricane that disfigured the Caribbean island of St. Croix on August 31, 1772? For without it,Alexander Hamilton may never have emigrated from there to NewYork City to begin a new life and subsequently help create a brand new nation. Hamilton was fifteen years old and living in the town of Christiansted, St. Croix when Hurricane San Ramon struck. He was a self-taught clerk for a business that traded goods between the FrenchWest Indies and America.On September 6, he wrote a letter to his estranged father, James Hamilton, who was living on the island of St. Kitts, about what he had witnessed on that fateful night. Hugh Knox, a Presbyterian minister who had come to St. Croix earlier that year, read the letter and forwarded it to the Royal Danish American Gazette,which published it for all to see. Despite his lack of formal education, the youthful autodi- dact wrote with precocious verve,moving a group of island businessmen to bestow their blessings upon the young au- thor.They took up a collection,which allowed him to embark to North America for a proper education—and a reversal of fortune worthy of a classic fable. What Hamilton wrote almost 250 years ago still rings true, today. First, the hurricane’s fury: “Good God! What horror and destruction—it’s impossible for me to describe—or you to form any idea of it. It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking place.The roaring of the sea and wind—fiery meteors flying about in the air—the prodi- gious glare of almost perpetual lightning—the crash of the falling houses—and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed,were sufficient to strike astonishment into Angels.A great part of the buildings throughout the Island are leveled to the ground—al- most all the rest very much shattered—several persons killed and numbers utterly ruined—whole families running about the streets unknowing where to find a place of shelter—the sick exposed to the keenness of water and air—without a bed to lie upon—or a dry covering to their bodies—our harbour is entirely bare. In a word,misery in all its most hideous shapes spread over the whole face of the country.” But then the tempest abates: “But see, the Lord relents.He hears our prayer.The lightning ceases.The winds are appeased.The warring elements are recon- ciled and all things promise peace.The darkness is dispell’d and drooping nature revives at the approaching dawn. Look back Oh! my soul, look back and tremble. Rejoice at thy deliverance, and humble thyself in the presence of thy deliverer.” Finally,Hamilton begs assistance from those who may have escaped the storm’s ravages: “O ye,who revel in affluence, see the afflictions of humanity and bestowyour superfluity to ease them. Say not,we have suf- fered also, and thence withhold your compassion.What are you[r] sufferings compared to those? Ye have still more than enough left.Act wisely. Succour the miserable and lay up a treasure in Heaven.” It would be both insufficient and immodest to add to Hamilton’s words. Suffice to say that we here at Business View Magazine have you in our thoughts.We know that you will survive this latest assault of nature, and though the devasta- tion wreaked by hurricanes Irma and Maria will take time to assuage, you will come out stronger on the other side. Just like Alexander Hamilton. ToOur Caribbean Friends: Al Krulick Editor-in-Chief Yours truly,