How do you feel after 50 years of Independence? - The Peter O'Connor column

When Lord Funny sang his way to victory in the 1988 Independence Calypso Competition, his introspective “Twenty five years have passed: How you feel?” was more critical than celebratory. 

Now, another twenty five years having passed, like flood waters under and over the bridges, are you feeling concerned about where we are, or are you “Celebrating 50”, joining the Olympic Gold Rush, planning—as is your right—to fete through this coming long weekend?

Fifty years have now passed, Trinidad and Tobago. So, how yuh feel today? Other than the temporary distraction over our athletes’ success—which is being shamelessly milked for political grandcharge - what can you say about this entity we call Trinidad and Tobago, today? What growth, advancement, or improvements can you identify in these past fifty years? Or even in the last twenty five, when Lord Funny asked us to take stock.

I would suggest that other than personal success—you did well in exams, got your degree, and your economic status has improved, or you married that wonderful person, things went well, and you now have grown children—there is no one who can truly show us that Trinidad and Tobago has taken any advantage of its resource riches to become a Good, far less a Better Society. 

And let me just digress a moment to reassure those who ask me why I am “down” on the celebrations, rather than “bigging-up” the country. It is not that I do not love my country, my land. It is because of the deep attachment I feel—for the land itself, our customs, our laughter, our undeniable comfort with all the races, religions and culture which we share—that I cannot continue the pretence that all is well, that things like crime, our increasing intolerance of each other, our comfort with corruption, nepotism, cronyism, and incompetence, will all just pass.

By now we should all know that “things are not going to get better”. Even the increasingly popular large prayer gatherings, to pray for an end to crime, other corruption, and the pathetic incompetence which cloaks our lives, will not bring respite. 

I suggest that maybe, when the ship is actually sinking beyond salvation, we might resort to prayer. Right now, while it is still possible to save ourselves and our country from Failed State hopelessness and violence, I suggest that we man the pumps and do the work which, hopefully “Gord” will tell the praying masses to do! In other words, T&T, if you care, take less refuge in prayer and begin to do the work!

Should an athlete pray to God to win, or to do his best? And is there a difference? Well there is, it is the difference between the hope and prayer that something will happen, and the inspiration to go and make the thing happen. 

In the New Testament a man, long crippled, reached up to Jesus and prayed to be healed. And Jesus, instead of helping him up, told the man:”take up thy bed and walk.” And the man obeyed, and walked away. Now, some of us are cynics, and Jesus may have realized (a miracle?) that the man was a malingerer. Exposed and embarrassed, the man then got up and walked away.

So those of you gathered today to pray for our nation’s deliverance on Friday, I suggest to you—take up thy beds and prayer mats and walk. Walk the talk you have been talking, find the failings in the society, from our culture and characteristics to our infrastructure and institutions. 

So listen for the voices of the Deities today, for they may well be telling you that it is you who must step up and begin to save this nation from collapse. It is you, not “Gord”, and certainly not any politician, political party, business, labour or religious leader who is going to do this. 

And when you begin to obey the “lesser” laws, covering driving, littering, noise making, cursing and the like, and you begin to do the correct things regarding others—your neighbours, co-workers, team mates, school friends—then you will have started to “walk”.

But you must do more. You must, without the attendant picong and old talk, put meaningful pressure upon our governments, and other institutions like business, and certainly the media, to begin to do the right things also. 

Whenever enough of us in this country have spoken out on issues (and this has been too seldom) we have brought change. Bad laws were not passed, injudicious projects were cancelled, and governments fell into step with a society speaking clearly and in unity. 

So, pray today, for inspiration on what you need to do, to answer in the next twenty five years: “How I feel? I feel great! I am a truly proud Trini!”