Friends Around the World
“A Perpetual Supply” (Trinidad)
by Frank Deaver, Tuscaloosa Rotary Club
In
the rural south of the Caribbean island of Trinidad, near the little
town of La Brea, is a lake—of sorts—that is proudly described by
locals as one of the wonders of the world. Pitch Lake is a black
mass of imperceptibly churning natural asphalt, slowly bubbling
upward from a sandstone fault line 250 feet below the surface.
People walk on the air-hardened black surface, but heavy
objects will slowly sink from sight. Sometimes they reappear
months, even years, later—as the black semi-solid slowly swirls.
Rotarian Verne Britto described the phenomenon. “No matter how
much you take out,” he said, “come back next day and you can’t miss
it. There’s apparently a perpetual supply.”
Testimony to his words can be seen in back-hoes and draglines
that daily scrape away surface layers of the pitch and load it on
trucks—to be used throughout the island country as asphalt paving
material for roads and mastic compound for roofing. Daily they
continue extracting the substance, but each following day there
appears to be none missing.
Verne and I, along with other Rotarians and friends sharing
brunch at his home, talked that day of many things—business and
economy, society and culture, and the goodwill and understanding of
Rotary. Friendship, we noted, not unlike the pitch in Pitch Lake,
is similarly an endless commodity. Enlarging one’s circle of
friendship does not diminish the potential supply.
Verne and Margaret Britto demonstrated that reality as they
entertained. Among their guests were Rotarians and non-Rotarians,
local “Trinnies” and international guests, retired seniors and
ambitious students, people of various ethnicities and religions.
During the day, we shared many thoughts and ideas, learned much from
and about each other, and gave and received the blessing of
friendship.
None became the poorer for the giving. All became the richer
for the receiving.
Like Pitch Lake, I thought, friendship is a constantly
replenished commodity. Through Rotary we have boundless
opportunities to both give and receive friendship. And the
inventory of friendship will never be diminished.
That one day, while enjoying Verne’s Caribbean hospitality, I
expanded my own circle of Rotary friendship. And I learned a
valuable lesson from Pitch Lake.
