A Look in the Mirror... (Failing Deliberately)

There is a conundrum that asks - "If a man sets out to fail, and he succeeds, what has he done?" Come back to that at the end and see if the question can be answered by our experience. We the people of this country have been lurching and stumbling over the course of our fifty one years of being free, yet not once have we been truthful as to our condition. Erected on the premise that we could manage our own affairs, our independence has been two islands of many faces, many elections between two races, trillions of dollars and little to show, two booms behind us and on we go.

From the Lockjoint scandal to Reshmi Ramnarine, from the Caroni Horse Racing Complex fiasco to Anna Deonarine, from the UFF Commission report on Calder Hart to the Sir Simmons Commission's report on Jack Warner, from Johnny O to Ish & Steve, from Sam P. Wallace to Brian Kuie Tung, from Moonan to Sammy, to Northern Construction  and SIS, from Manning's son to Kamla's sister, from Gopaul to Seepaul, from salt water mains to highway drains, from Tarouba to Toco, from Milsherv to Section 34, from Manning's wife to London's brother, from Calcutta ships to duncey head slips, Robbie as Chief and Panday as Indian, Bakr as gunman and religion as gang, Birjus's credentials and Adjodha's resume, Fitzgerald's house and Al Rawi's ghost building, NAPAS and SAPAS and Waterfronts galore, highways and hunger strikes, protests and labor strikes, gang warfare and police strikes, from attacks on the Speaker to speaking attacks, from Ellis to Kamla to Max to Angostura, two million dollar flags and ten million dollar men, from a deal with the devil and a church in the hills, Tristar, BWIA, CLICO, HCU, SWAIT, Trade Confirmers, International Trust, Winsure, Augustus Long vanishing hospital, CHOGM, Miss Universe and Donald's private island, Monteil's shares and the Home Mortgage Bank, Gita's check and accounting collapse, drugs in yachts, drugs down the islands, drugs in chicken, drugs in containers of cars, drugs in diplomatic pouches, missiles in water tanks, FIFA bribes and scandals and more, emailgate hoaxes, attacks on the Chief Justice, spies on the DPP, journalists for hire, Mount Hope hospital scandal, Foreshore Freeway scandal, Landate, Piarco Fiasco, Petrotrin billion's a no go, Texaco and Tesoro, on and on and on we go. Broadgate to City Gate and Rapid Rails too, from firings by faxes and missing Haiti money, this list could go on and on, but if you're still with me the point is made.

We have failed.

We have failed at managing our systems of justice, we have failed at providing adequate health care to our people, we have failed at keeping order and enforcing law, we have failed at protecting the assets of the state from political deviants and their corrupt business counterparts. Our education sectors and provision of services are riddled with graft and rigged to fail.

We have succeeded.

We have succeeded at becoming a narco-state, we have succeeded at being one of the most corrupt nations on the planet, we have succeeded at making billionaires out of crooks and peasants out of our people.

This is probably the only article that I have ever written that cannot be contradicted or disagreed with, and that is the saddest thing of all.

So the question has to be asked, who is responsible for all of this?

Why, we are of course...

By our corruption, our biases and prejudices, our laziness, our selfishness, our willingness to cut corners, our innate dishonesty, our ability to rationalize wrong and defend crookedness, WE did this.

We've defended the indefensible and excused the inexcusable. We have compared levels of wrong and have chosen from among them indecency to call our very own. We have little moral outrage over things that matter and give our attention to things unimportant.

Our media could do much, MUCH better at investigating and our professional class could do much, MUCH better at protecting, but ultimately if we as a people don't do much, MUCH better at choosing we're going nowhere.

This appears to be the legacy that we are building, that of a covertly racist, overtly corrupt people dedicated to our own destruction, and will remain not only our past and our present, but our future and our children and grandchildren's futures as well.

Take a look in the mirror T&T. Tell me what you see...