Not Everything is Black & White... (and not every skin teeth is a smile)

While I do my best to ignore rabid Party activists on both sides of the divide, some topics seem to force me into conversation and debate with people who have no need for points or objectives and who, armed only with their emotional reaction half cocked and loaded, charge full speed ahead.

There is no getting away from the fact that elected officials and those appointed to high Office are held to a much higher standard than the rest of us, but it comes with the territory if one wants to be considered 'Leaders' of the country.

Before we go on to the substance of this piece we need to at least accept the inescapable truth on the ground, the truth that this country's politics has forever been mired and continues to be mired in racial issues simply because the country is predominantly bi-racial and almost equally divided among racial lines.

As I fit into neither camp naturally except for a little blood here and there I am accepted everywhere, and while I never feel excluded from anything, I cannot say I ever feel fully included either.

This unique vantage point however has allowed me the opportunity to see things from both sides and to try to guide my position or comment on issues in the way that I think would bear the most fruit for the nation, as always my position is Country First.

Take this apparent 'visit by vapse' for example.

The Prime Minister uncharacteristically reacted to the tragic death of an eight year old child by going to Gasparillo to console his grieving family, and I (and others) expressed surprise that she would choose this case out of all the others that have gone before on her watch to demonstrate personal sympathy for survivors of horrible crimes and I believe her 'handlers' should have noticed the glaring misstep prior to it being made.

To many outside of the East Indian community, Kamla showed a clear bias by choosing this suffering family over previous suffering families and no real reason or explanation can or has been put forward so far as an explanation for the choice or a reason why.

Now, regardless of connections to the area, the family or otherwise, she ought to have known that as Prime Minister her actions are ALL subject to scrutiny, and in circumstances where she must err, she should err on the side of caution.

In this instant sadly, that was not done, and her good intention has had the effect of paving some otherwise unplanned roads and dividing the nation over an issue we were formally fully united on, the tragic loss of a child.

To my mind it is better that we tell the Emperor when her clothes do not fit 'just right' than to leave her demonstrating herself for others who may not be blinded by tribal, political or other biases and see something different to what she intended.

Her actions, while laudable, demonstrated an almost juvenile misunderstanding of the role of Prime Minister and I call on her to take whatever steps are necessary to remedy this unfortunate faux pas, and more importantly, take steps to prevent it from occurring again.

I suggest again the dismissal of all of her advisors 'in toto' and the wholesale reconfiguration of something new.

In a plural society one must take steps to make sure that as leader one represents ALL of the people ALL of the time, or one may find oneself at a loss as to the defeat at the polls over nothing more than a hug and a kiss, best wishes of half cocked supporters notwithstanding.

Something to think about....