Undoing Excellence... (More Doubles-Speak)

As an opinion writer/columnist/blogger sometimes i find myself in funny, even uncomfortable positions because i am required/expected to deal dispassionately with 'hot topic' issues fairly or fearlessly regardless of relationships or friendships, while many others are not so constrained and free to give liberty to whatever they want to say. Fair enough. This is not the only complication though, as I wear other hats, and one of them in particular and as Chairman of the Jericho Project i am careful not to comment from a personal perspective especially on any member who may have left the group (particularly on negative issues) and tend to ignore any such negatives ascribed to former members so as to keep me the person and me the opinion writer separate (as much as humanly possible) from Jericho so as not to hinder the good work that group does for so many.

That is not always easy.

One of the issues in the national domain that was taking center stage in the discussion and getting lost in the personalities was the 'plannassing' video featuring the son of Education Minister Tim Gopeesingh - Shane Gopeesingh as 'plannasser,' and, the husband of COP stalwart and activist in her own right Kathryn Stollmeyer-Wight - Gregory Wight, cast for these purposes as 'victim.'

Kathryn is also a former member of the Jericho Project, and it is here that I am still trying to remain cautious as to what i can realistically say on the issue, further complicated by the fact that the matter is now sub judice.

In my article "A New Tale of a Strange Land.... (Plannassing for Doubles)" I tried to take an 'every-man's' position on what took place, accepting what was plain to see in the video and also what was said as having occurred by both sides to draw to a conclusion that the whole mess could have and should have been avoided if both sides 'held their corner' as it were. The problem with the 'everyman' view in some situations in clannish T&T is that, even if your intention was not so much to please but to understand everyone, if people are willing to dig into their positions you could end up pleasing no one. Combine that with those with axes to grind that have nothing to do with the issue being discussed and we have a whole new situation, not on the issue being discussed but on the people doing the discussing (i.e. kill the messenger). In my article I acknowledged that others may have intimated that Gregory Wight, in his forty one second rant at Shane Gopeesingh may have used the word 'coolie' in its most derogatory meanings, and Gregory himself has told me that he never did. How do I decide? As I was not there and can only rely on hearsay the original position I took was whether or not you did don't do it as I thought that was the substantive lesson here, but if it came across as me having said that I believe he did say it, as I was not there I cannot so I retract and apologize for that. Kathryn has allowed/facilitated a conversation based on the same hearsay and sees no difference in me sharing what I believed and what she has facilitated/allowed and again, fair enough. Sometimes irony gets lost when we're too close to a situation.

As clarification I wrote a follow up piece entitled 'Rights vs Responsibility' in which I tried to further make the point that where we are is of not as much consequence as how we come to be here in the first place, but by now the banging of drums were drowning out any chance of rational discussion so the substance was lost on those looking to score points, whatever they may be. In the closing paragraph I again weighed the behavior of both men from provocation through escalation to result and came to the conclusion that - “This may well end up being judged on the merits of who was more wrong, but don't be fooled  for a second that either party was right.” I still believe that to be so and I make no apologies for that.........