Our culture, our history, heritage, manners, self-respect, you name it, we are losing it all! We are losing our ability to manage our lives, to lead ourselves, to achieve anything of any value at all. We are losing our way.
And it is not as if this ongoing loss is some accidental misplacement of our values. The sad truth is that we are just throwing it all away, just like we do with a half-empty box of some alien fast food to which we have become addicted.
And it is not that our “leaders” are taking us down this pernicious, hazardous road. While the government is content to indulge us, like weak parents allowing errant children to do what they know is wrong, the loss of all of our values is being driven by us.
And the embers are being happily fanned by the business community, seeking to profit in every way from the growing benign anarchy which we are developing. And they do this even as they self-righteously call for some return to the values they remember.
The complete breakdown in standards of discipline is being engrained in little children by their own parents. Parents who believe that they have a complaint against teachers in their children’s schools are now protesting loudly, with the same children, and blocking teachers from entering school compounds, and threatening them physically.
Parents, what examples are you teaching your young? What can you possibly do with them when they are almost grown, and have learned, from you, that the way to disagree with you is to beat you up?
Drivers on our roads now live with a total breakdown of all basic laws. Speeding down the shoulder, breaking red lights, parking where prohibited, and even blocking the road to speak to someone travelling in the opposite direction are all quite “normal” now.
Every day, at the intersection of the CR Highway and the entrance to Trincity Mall, when the light turns green on the highway for westbound traffic, that traffic must wait several seconds as dozens of cars come streaming out of the junction (where the light is red), bumper-to-bumper so that they cannot be separated.
If you dare to challenge for your right of way on the highway, you will be abused, maybe shot!
How come I see this every time I drive that road, and the police never see it? Those “hurry” people should all be pulled aside and brought out of their vehicles waiting in the sun or rain while tickets are written up for them. It must be stopped, but it will not be, because that is now the norm, at Trincity and every other such junction.
Laziness, lack of work ethic, cheating and corruption have all become the norms in our lives. And we are teaching these to our children. Petty corruption exists at every single government service, from getting your first driver’s permit, to which school your child will attend, to getting your VAT refunds. I dare any pollster to conduct a survey of VAT-registered small businesses and see how they eventually get their VAT refunds settled.
We all disobey every single law regarding waste disposal, from individuals throwing their fast food containers out of their cars, to the despoiling of what should be pristine rivers and beaches by picnickers. Businesses dump commercial or industrial waste wherever they can, some send their trucks up the Arima valley to throw garbage in the river.
Quarry operators totally ignore the requirement for settling ponds to prevent them from pouring silt into our rivers, and so our rivers are filthy. And the authorities, including the EMA, can never see, and when shown, do nothing.
“Preachers” open “churches” in residential communities, and blare their messages on loudspeakers into people’s homes. Those who dare to complain are accused of being against the word of some “god”, and the police and the EMA seem to fear this god of noise more than the law of the land.
Gardeners and developers have the “right” to cut down acres of forests in the hills simply because they seize this right.
And a hapless government can find no way of stopping it, or even beginning to educate the population as to why it should be stopped. And when the denuded hills come sliding down (Fact: landslips only occur where the trees have been removed—learn that!), everyone blames “Gord” when we should be jailing the perpetrators.
So, accept this, Trinidad and Tobago: Your leaders will remain hopeless because they come from you. Until you, or some organizations to which you may belong, can begin to set an example of what is required, we will never improve. But we will all happily sink together, preying on each other and praying to Gord as we drown in our filth.
And it is not as if this ongoing loss is some accidental misplacement of our values. The sad truth is that we are just throwing it all away, just like we do with a half-empty box of some alien fast food to which we have become addicted.
And it is not that our “leaders” are taking us down this pernicious, hazardous road. While the government is content to indulge us, like weak parents allowing errant children to do what they know is wrong, the loss of all of our values is being driven by us.
And the embers are being happily fanned by the business community, seeking to profit in every way from the growing benign anarchy which we are developing. And they do this even as they self-righteously call for some return to the values they remember.
The complete breakdown in standards of discipline is being engrained in little children by their own parents. Parents who believe that they have a complaint against teachers in their children’s schools are now protesting loudly, with the same children, and blocking teachers from entering school compounds, and threatening them physically.
Parents, what examples are you teaching your young? What can you possibly do with them when they are almost grown, and have learned, from you, that the way to disagree with you is to beat you up?
Drivers on our roads now live with a total breakdown of all basic laws. Speeding down the shoulder, breaking red lights, parking where prohibited, and even blocking the road to speak to someone travelling in the opposite direction are all quite “normal” now.
Every day, at the intersection of the CR Highway and the entrance to Trincity Mall, when the light turns green on the highway for westbound traffic, that traffic must wait several seconds as dozens of cars come streaming out of the junction (where the light is red), bumper-to-bumper so that they cannot be separated.
If you dare to challenge for your right of way on the highway, you will be abused, maybe shot!
How come I see this every time I drive that road, and the police never see it? Those “hurry” people should all be pulled aside and brought out of their vehicles waiting in the sun or rain while tickets are written up for them. It must be stopped, but it will not be, because that is now the norm, at Trincity and every other such junction.
Laziness, lack of work ethic, cheating and corruption have all become the norms in our lives. And we are teaching these to our children. Petty corruption exists at every single government service, from getting your first driver’s permit, to which school your child will attend, to getting your VAT refunds. I dare any pollster to conduct a survey of VAT-registered small businesses and see how they eventually get their VAT refunds settled.
We all disobey every single law regarding waste disposal, from individuals throwing their fast food containers out of their cars, to the despoiling of what should be pristine rivers and beaches by picnickers. Businesses dump commercial or industrial waste wherever they can, some send their trucks up the Arima valley to throw garbage in the river.
Quarry operators totally ignore the requirement for settling ponds to prevent them from pouring silt into our rivers, and so our rivers are filthy. And the authorities, including the EMA, can never see, and when shown, do nothing.
“Preachers” open “churches” in residential communities, and blare their messages on loudspeakers into people’s homes. Those who dare to complain are accused of being against the word of some “god”, and the police and the EMA seem to fear this god of noise more than the law of the land.
Gardeners and developers have the “right” to cut down acres of forests in the hills simply because they seize this right.
And a hapless government can find no way of stopping it, or even beginning to educate the population as to why it should be stopped. And when the denuded hills come sliding down (Fact: landslips only occur where the trees have been removed—learn that!), everyone blames “Gord” when we should be jailing the perpetrators.
So, accept this, Trinidad and Tobago: Your leaders will remain hopeless because they come from you. Until you, or some organizations to which you may belong, can begin to set an example of what is required, we will never improve. But we will all happily sink together, preying on each other and praying to Gord as we drown in our filth.
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