By Steve Alvarez
I have personally found it very difficult to understand the aims and objectives of most citizens of Trinidad & Tobago. An onlooker can easily conclude that we love mediocrity and hate advancement. When I worked in New York for one of the biggest construction companies in the world my efforts were appreciated and I have plaques and letters to attest to that. In Trinidad where I managed the construction of many prominent buildings after returning home, those efforts were never appreciated.
I had similar experiences in the groups, clubs, or organizations that I was privileged to lead. But that experience is not unique to me. Anyone who had the privilege to listen to classical music on the steel pan will likely conclude that the instrument is uniquely wonderful. The rest of the world appreciates it and there are steel pan orchestras in many schools outside of Trinidad & Tobago. Yet many are extremely uncomfortable with the steel pan on our coat of arms.
The Canadian police commissioner that served in this country for a short while, instructed police to work outside of the stations on patrol and had special reserved police occupy the desks in the stations. We sent him away.
Governments on both side of the aisle made education a priority by paying for tertiary education, yet many continue to prefer gang activity to education. The Ministry of Works under Minister Jack Warner proved the effectiveness of retention ponds in areas prone to flooding, yet we fail to construct them in communities prone to flooding.
Government understand the importance of sports as an alternative to a life of crime, yet we made life sport into another example of failure. A people that emerged from slavery and indentureship still feel uncomfortable relying on their own competence and ability to efficiently apply the law without fear or favour. So there continues to be the reliance on the Privy Council as the final court of appeal.
Fix the roads, no; make excuses. Plant food to feed ourselves, no; import food with limited foreign exchange. Use our brightest and best to manage our affairs, no; use people who are loyal regardless of their competence.
Almost every step of the way we the people, not just the politicians, seem intent on embracing backwardness, hatred, and levels of incompetence that baffle objective minds. We cannot see the merit in having the state issue vehicle licence plates but are ok with every and anyone making a plate and changing them to commit crime.
The result is glaring. Overgrown bushes along our roads and highways instead of well-manicured greenery and flowers. Potholes that increase daily as the road is dug up for utility maintenance and not restored. Crime continues to rise because the police sit in the stations waiting to record the next crime instead of going on patrol to prevent crime. Our young people continue joining gangs as sports is not a priority.
But what is worse is that we continue with the hatred and subliminal racism. Look at the daily commentaries.
God Bless Our Nation.
