30 Years On: Holding On, Letting Go

Today, July 18, marks 30 years since the start of volcanic eruptions on Montserrat.
I won’t dwell on what hasn’t happened.
Or who failed us.
Or how we’ve failed ourselves.

There’s been more than enough of that.

Grief doesn’t follow a schedule. Trauma doesn’t expire.

But we can’t keep numbing the pain, either. We need to feel it.
Name it.
And then reframe it, so that we do more than survive and mark time.

I’ve met people who’ve never crossed Belham Valley since they came North.
Some, only recently, have braved the dust and decay of what’s left of Plymouth.
Others left Montserrat swearing never to return and haven’t.
And some have dreamed of coming home but simply can’t.

The Lady Soufrière remains a majestic mystery.
We blame her.
We admire her.
We revere her, because even as she forced us to let go, she revealed new paths many of us would never have seen otherwise.

There is beauty in the ash.
There is potential in the mud.
And there is still power in the Montserrat story, if we choose to tell it differently.

You can keep grieving. You can keep pointing fingers.
Or you can be grateful that you’re still here, with the capacity to imagine new outcomes.

The old days aren’t coming back.
But Montserrat, reinvented, reimagined, can move forward, not just on her 39+ square miles, but across Toronto, Boston, Birmingham, and beyond.

As Joseph “Pops” Morris said: “Thank you for holding on.”
Whether you:

Slept in shelters until you could find a new place to rest your head,
Packed up your life and started over in a cold, unfamiliar country,
Stayed with relatives on neighbouring islands …

You held on.

But here’s the truth:
Holding on isn’t enough anymore.

It’s time to release.
Release what Montserrat used to be.
Let go of where you went to school, where you partied, where you prayed.

Give Montserrat the freedom to become something new.
Give yourself the freedom to dream again, not backwards, but forwards.

Instead of fixating on what’s broken, ask how you can help build.
Instead of lamenting what’s lost, consider what’s possible.

So much about how we live, work, and connect has changed.
Chasing a version of Montserrat that no longer fits who we are today only leads to disappointment.

Honour her by telling your story.
Celebrate her by daring to dream and then doing the work to make it real.

Not just for memory’s sake.
But for legacy.
For the future.

Nerissa Golden – Editor of Discover Montserrat