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Sunday, May 31, 2009

The moral of the war in Trinidad

I have returned home to my Trinidad, after being away almost 6 years. I returned home to be with my family, and because North America didn't feel like home, just one big shopping mall with many shiny objects to buy and keep me enslaved to work harder so I could con myself into buying more and more shiny toys.

I visited home annually and sometimes twice in one year; checking up on family and friends, going to the new hot spots and hitting a beach or two. And it always felt as if home was the place to be, that I would one day return home. So I decided to do so in 2008.

I am glad I left the hellish rat race, because as nice and clean and orderly the first world is, outside in their world you're just an immigrant.

But now that I'm back here for good, it's as if I see the place for what it really is – a country in turmoil. We're in utter conflict. Most don't really seem to notice, almost as if they're in a daze or something. 'Yeah prices going up, so what? It going up all over d world', 'yeah crime bad, but other countries have bad crime too, so where really safe?'

And as much as there is some truth to what people are saying, my real beef is - 'Who are we holding accountable here in Trinidad when things do go wrong?' For all this talk from our great visionary Prime Minister and his tout of 'Vision 2020', there's still so many things that are wrong and getting gradually worse here. So if things are decaying right now, right in front of us, how can we build a better Trinidad by 2020? Surely this is a joke.

One need only to step outside their neighbourhood to see dilapidated roads, sinking pavements, poor drainage, terrible waste management, poor handling of garbage disposal, a rising and threatening vagrancy problem, continuing inflation, a terrifyingly escalating crime rate, ongoing road rage that in most cases results in violence daily on our roadways, terminally-linked environmental hazards and the list goes on and on.

Our murder rate is almost double what it was this time last year, we are building 3 smelters which will surely kill our water table and most certainly annihilate the residents of La Brea, not to mention the air pollution that will follow, and the effect it will have on our beaches.

 And if that wasn't crazy enough we are having a construction boom as if the entire Caribbean is moving to Trinidad. We are spinning way out of control.

I've realized that most people have become powerless to these thing and just accept it as given,and fair enough. If the powers that be at the top aren't doing one bloody thing about why should we care?

Because of the fact that we're making the place worse for our kids. And I don't have kids, but I shudder to think what kind of country they'll inherit.

If the government has no regard as to what they tell us, and if they continue to show utter contempt for the law and its citizens by assuming we're all stupid (one just has to look at what nonsense Hon. Karen Nunes did with the CLICO/CIB fiasco to see where government's honour really lies), then my next question is whose example are we to follow if we're rotten from the top down?

It's not about partisan lines or anything like that, but if anyone can tell me one good thing this current administration has done for 'sweet' TNT in the last 8 years, then please tell me because I can't find one thing. I have seen change in this land and it is only for the worst.

I have seen hope, in the hands of a few communities that are changing things in their own way and for the better, and in one activist group called 'Drummit 2 Summit' – a group protesting our staging of the 5th Summit of the Americas (which we all know was a farce and a waste of our money).

And after only being back 6 months, I'm glad to be back to fight this fight on the home-front, because now is the time when we have to be accountable to ourselves and hold our government officials accountable, because they are doing rubbish.

And by their poor example, we have the by-product of that - hooligans who are running wild doing what they want, driving how they want, saying what they want, stealing, raping, kidnapping and murdering. We can say this is not the government's fault, but if their lead is a poor one, then whom do we follow?

Our actions start off as thought, and thoughts are formed by our environment and personal experiences. And if our environment is corrupt, then we become twisted and perverse. This correlation should be clear to all, as none of us live in a bubble.

I do believe in the decency of human beings, and that most Trinbagonians are decent people, I meet good people everyday, but we cannot feel justice if our entire system is corrupt and those who know how to manipulate it do so very well. And this goes for the big crook as well as the petty criminal. It's all the same to me.

Maybe if we learnt how to take care of our fellow neighbour as we would ourselves and then pass this ideology of brotherhood and honest consideration to others, then maybe we can rebuild this nation, street by street and town by town. All it takes is one group or neighbourhood starting to do something positive and progressive for all concerned and great things will surely happen.

But now is the time for war, and our morality is at stake. And though we may be losing the battle, I do hope we – the decent, law-abiding patriots of Trinidad and Tobago win this war, because it is a noble fight, and we all have to do our part to do what's right.





Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Trying to think freely

So I'm turning off my TV (the zombie tube) and I'm reading more, because there's way too much rubbish on TV and I can spend my time much better than being mindlessly 'entertained' by some terrible programming that was decided by some media mogul who's fattening his pocket at my expense.

I'm trying to think for myself and un-learn and re-learn everything that I ever was taught and it is hard.

I'm starting to wonder more and more if what I'm doing is my own thoughts or what was programmed into me. I'm almost about ready to become unplugged. It's scary but it's totally worth it.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

We were all taught the wrong things from small

When we were in school, we were taught: study hard, stay in school, get a good tertiary education and join the work force. We were never taught to follow our dreams, no matter how small they are, for they could lead to bigger and brighter things. But more importantly, by pursuing our dreams, we become happier people, contributing more positively to our community. And by extension, we would help others on their path to achieving their dreams, because the ultimate goal i for all to achieve their dreams. 

But instead, society's ultimate goal is wealth accumulation, and avoid risk if it means sacrificing personal comfort. We are scared, we are a slave to our belongings.

We have one life to life but we're doing wrong you see (thank you Sam Roberts)

We're doing it wrong.

Friday, May 1, 2009

The speed-bumps of life...

I keep on hitting myself against an invisible wall. A ceiling that is placed by people who only seek to further their own agenda.

I'm certain now that it is not life that is hard or unfair, but people make life difficult by their selfishness and unwillingness to help. Why is it so hard to do the right thing that would make someone's day a little easier, to make a person smile. To do a good deed whether it be help someone in need, point a stranger in the right direction, or show random acts of kindness.

No. Instead we must hold on to what we have, share no information, offer no helping hand, because somehow what we have might be lost if we help. Were we always this wicked and selfish? Is everyone just thinking about themselves? My God!

I know that sometimes, in the midst of pushing for our dreams we stumble and fall, but when our fate is affected by other people and their absolute stupidity and cruelty, that is just wrong, and in that case we are not the ones who fall, in this case we are pushed down.

Why is it so hard to help others? We are so greedy and small-minded it's not funny. Some days I'm so sick of people I wish I could stand on the tallest building and scream my lungs out. But I'm sure no one would hear me from that height.

We're all numb with our own tunnel vision view of materialism and what is supposedly right that we lost all human kindness.

My God we're in trouble. And the worst part is a genuine person is becoming more like an endangered species.

What ever happened to truth, respect, love and honour?