?I must say that when Sharon Amow-Gay invited me on behalf of the Past Pupils Association of St Joseph's Convent to deliver the feature address at the induction of honorees to the Hall of Excellence, I literally jumped at the opportunity. Two years ago, I was honoured to be inducted to the Hall of Excellence. It was a special and memorable occasion for me. I was returning to the place that had given me the best secondary education one could get anywhere in the world, as well as the principles and values that have guided my life. But I was also given the opportunity to accept this honour in the presence of my parents, Una Magdalena Nunez and Waldo Everett Nunez. Even as I say their names, I can see them in front of me, shining with pride and gratitude. I knew, and they knew, the sacrifices they made to send their six daughters to St Joseph's Convent and their five sons to St Mary's College.
I know how grateful they were that we were in the hands of teachers committed to excellence, teachers who had high expectations of us, who believed that we deserved the best education. I also know how relieved they were that the principles and values they taught us at home would be reinforced and supported by the teachers at St Joseph's Convent and St Mary's College. Within a few months after my induction to the Hall of Excellence, we lost our mother and a few months after that we lost our father too. And so it is a huge consolation to me that both my mother and my father were here, both present to witness my induction and to express their gratitude to the teachers and adminis- trators at St Joseph's Convent for the education they gave to their daughters.
I am not the only Nunez whose name appears on the brass plaque on the Hall of Excellence. You will see my Aunt Pearl's name there–Pearl Nunez Connor-Mogotsi. My father's parents were not Catho-lic, but like thousands of parents who throughout the years sent their daughters to St Joseph's Convent, they entrusted their children to the hands of the teachers here, confident that they would be given the tools to make their way in life and to excel. But I must say that when Mrs Amow-Gay suggested the title of my talk–Ethics in Achieving Excellence–my enthusiasm turned to excitement. How could Mrs Amow-Gay know that I had been thinking about this topic for years now? How could she know that even now as I was beginning to work on my eighth novel, this was the topic that I wanted to pursue? Let me start with a disclaimer about how I work as a novelist.
I do not begin with answers; I begin with questions and my hope is that in creating characters and a world in which they operate, I will eventually discover the answer to the questions that consume me. So the question that I am currently pondering is whether or not all human beings are born with a moral compass that points them in the direction of good and at the same time points them away from evil. I am wondering if human beings are essentially good or do we begin with a blank slate–a tabula rasa–on which we write good or evil. Mostly, I am wondering if it is possible for us to achieve our ambitions without compromising our moral values. So this topic of Ethics in Achieving Excellence has great relevance to me. I began to think seriously about this topic when I was a young teenager of about 14 or 15. My father, Waldo Nunez, was Commissioner of Labour. It was an impor- tant title with much prestige in our family and community.
We were proud that my father had achieved this distinction, especially since we knew that the previous Commissioner of Labour, Sir Solomon Hochoy, was later appointed Governor of Trinidad and Tobago. Would our father follow in his footsteps? Then something happened. To this day, I do not know the facts. My parents held their disappointments close to their chests and did not trouble their children with their concerns. But I knew at the age of 14 or 15 that something serious had happened that was threatening my father's job. My father, who was a good man but not a particularly religious man in the way my mother was religious, began going to church every day. Almost every afternoon he made his way to Diego Martin to speak to his father, my grandfather, Albert Antonio Nunez. My grandfather was a highly principled man with a strong, unbendable code of ethics, a man admired for his integrity.
I knew that whatever was troubling my father had to do with an ethical question and he was seeking advice from his father and strength from his faith in God. At the time, my parents had ten children, all of us at home, all of us, including my mother, dependent on my father's income. Whatever the ethical question that was troubling my father, another practical one had to be keeping him up at night. His wife and children depended on him. What would happen to them if he lost his job? For I think that was the risk my father was weighing. Again, I want to repeat that I did not, and even now do not, know the facts of the situation. I only know that my father was facing a choice between a decision he felt would compromise his integrity and a decision that could result in destitution for his family. In the end, my father chose to leave his job and all the benefits it had provided us in the past.
Among them, I will say selfishly, was the opportunity for us to spend the holidays as a family at one of the many seaside rest houses for government officials. Happily, we survived; happily, my parents prospered. So this was my early introduction to the risks and price of ethical choices that at some point in our lives we are faced with making. The memory of the toll it took on my father to make the ethical choice stayed with me for the rest of my life. I remember the whispered conversations between my parents, the days and weeks of his trips to see my grandfather, his daily visits to our parish church to pray. Whatever was the situation, it was difficult for him to do what he believed was the right and ethical thing to do. But he did it; he did it knowing the risks.
Cont'd tomorrow
nElizabeth Nunez, PhD, is a City University of New York Distinguished Professor and an award-winning author of seven novels, including Anna In-Between (New York Times Editors' Choice September 2009), Prospero's Daughter (New York Times Editors' Choice; 2006 Novel of the Year, Black Issues Book Review) and Bruised Hibiscus (American Book Award). She is co-editor with Jennifer Sparrow of the anthology Stories from Blue Latitudes: Caribbean Women Writers at Home and Abroad. Nunez is executive producer of the 2004 NY Emmy-nominated CUNY TV series Black Writers in America. She divides her time between Amityville, New York and Brooklyn
