Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Cart before the Horse or Horse before the Cart?



My grandmother would always say that you can put the cart before the horse. Even at a young age, I understood what it meant. As an adult, I see this even more clearly now. I don't think that is my BA degree that brings it to fruition because plain old common sense can tell you so.

The cart can't pull the horse, the horse has to pull the cart. So it's that simple? Then why do we see things coming and never put the right initiatives in place to increase performance or reduce loss. You can't plan for the damage a natural disaster can cause but you can educate your people to be ready. We are good at getting that word out.

However, where we suck is with our infrastructure and human resources. These two facets are the building blocks of any country. There is no industry without good infrastructure. There is no future without people to preserve the culture and to form your labour force.

We get a bare passing grade for our education and I give a 'D' because the special needs students are not a serious priority. We have to get out of the mentality of hiding these children because they have special gifts. They must grow up and become members of the community. This is a major issue that is continually surpassed because we do not have programs to integrate them into the wider community where possible.

Our infrastructure - the core behind any country, needs work and this means money. We have spent millions of dollars trying to give the place an aesthetically pleasing appearance but we have not dealt with the major issues of the supply of clean water, disposal of sewerage, electrical supply, solid waste disposal and road improvement.. I will say plainly to any person that hiring a consultant or giving a contract to a foreign company which drags its feet is not a solution.

We seem to have a "dummy" sign on our backs and this is sad. We have spent millions educating the youth in various fields but we seem not to trust their judgement. We pay the consultants and then shelf their reports if they completed same in the first place.

The country's labor force is either in the private or public sector. The private sector is at the mercy of the persons installed to regulate employment practices. This does not always seem to go well. It is very sad because such persons have to try their utmost best to be unbiased and fair in their dealings with the public. The public sector is governed by rules that are designed to repress their freedom of speech.

We'd hope that there would be more calypsonians in this country who can sing in parables about the plight of the country. However we notice that certain leaders are not for that artistic side which is the one true freedom of speech that any artist has.

So what are we to do? I believe in solutions. We know what the problems are. In many cases we know the root of said problems. I believe that we have to make some hard decisions to get the country forward. However, we have several persons who prefer to see the place run to the dogs so that they can get their cutback.

So who's the cart and who's the horse?

ribbon

No comments:

POEM: Rainbow