Letters & Opinion

Regardless of the tide we must swim or drown!

Image of Carlton Ishmael
By Carlton Ishmael

What has brought us to this point? These days we are grappling at various fronts as we are overwhelmed with the situation of excessive criminal activity.

We have a problem with not having enough work on island and frustration is becoming the order of the day. We still have the brain drain problem where masses of trained professionals, mainly teachers and nurses, are seeking work and opportunity elsewhere.

The Government is losing revenue due to the many areas that they have to forgo what is due to them when it comes to people playing their taxes and court fines, and so on.

All these issues and areas of concern are causing national stress and in a sense retarding progress. On the media, especially social media, everybody is criticizing the government, but nobody is giving positive suggestions to combat the situation. The prices of both old and new imported goods are rising daily, and local suppliers and service providers are all upping their prices: a real double-whammy.

In other words, things are bad and getting worse. This means that the opposition will use every opportunity to pounce on the existing regime as it relates to promises made. They are waiting to return to office and need to ensure they keep the squeeze or keep the pressure on, even though they have undoubtedly contributed to the current situation.

As for the people, they are caught between a rock and a hard place, after rejecting the former.

The times are hard because of many factors, some we created and some imposed due to world situation.

The new education, new training or mind-set is still far from implementation, or becoming a new reality. Granted, more and more people are beginning to see self-employment as a way out, but the state did not pave the way for them, like offering the needed-training and in some cases financial support or advice.

Each one must find their own means and not all are blessed with the knowhow, or the readymade resources.

Being unprepared can be a hell of a thing, but regardless of the tide we must swim across the waters or drown by suffering the consequences of the perils of life, as they are right now.

As to who or what modules will be used to get us out of this human dilemma, your guess is as good as mine, but what I know, for sure, is that there must be a different approach — or things will get worse.

It cannot be thinking or working as usual. We need to think outside the box. We must become more creative, and we must believe in ourselves — become more reassured.

Granted, we need help from any source, but the strong and the able among us must put our hands up to contribute and we should not be at war with ourselves because the battle should be about surviving.

The going is tough but when the going gets tough, the tough must get going, so we cannot paralyze our growth but instead have more conscientious planning, waste less and spend wisely, that is the key to survival and securing our health; and if we put on our thinking caps the rest will fall into place, so I say: let’s fight this battle of life together, because together we have a better chance of survival.

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