Letters & Opinion

Let’s stop denying a coin has two sides!

Image of Carlton Ishmael
By Carlton Ishmael

It bothers me when I hear such comments like “The Government has done nothing…” because, unless I am mistaken or wrongly-informed, I hear and see, via the national airwaves, all the policy changes and the various support given to certain segments of society on a daily basis.

I also read and hear of all the taxes the government of the day forfeits so as to give ease to people across the board to help them deal with the global cost of living; about the amount of new vehicles added to the existing fleet of the police and the tax breaks being given to small, medium and large businesses; the changes in legislation to give stiffer penalties to certain crimes, especially gun-related and yet it seems that none of that is considered to be “something” or “anything”.

It makes me wonder if the word “nothing” has a new interpretation, or if it is only about the bias of party supporters.

Why, when the evidence is so glaring, there is so much condemnation?

When will the Government “do enough” to be deemed as a “doing” or “giving” government? Must it always be only criticism about everything the government does? Is it always only about blind loyalty?

Why do we only see progress from one side of the fence? When strides are made in education, social affairs, infrastructure and other growth initiatives — like giving support to women’s groups, especially single mothers and placing emphasis on the Youth Economy, or reducing the costs of school fees — why is all this being overlooked?

What good does it do? And why the lies and the deceit? Why don’t we also see or shut both our eyes to past negatives, especially when it comes to how the state funds were spent earlier? Why do we continue to justify bad spending? Will it always continue to be about what party we support and not about our stark realities?

It really baffles me how still so very divided we are, along party lines. It bothers me too when one party refuses to continue the projects of their predecessors or refuse to support a constituency because they did not vote for the winning party — and people consider that to be quite fair.

Really, only one side of the coin is usually seen… So, going forward, if this remains the trend, then there will always be discontentment.

The progress of the forensic lab or the decision to rebuild the old unit at St. Jude, or to rebuild or reestablish any other project, will always be criticized, so it seems to me that as far as some of us are concerned, only one party (ours) has the expertise or answers to our economic woes.

I am saddened by the fact that we continue to live like we like to have the blind leading the blind and no one tells the other “You are going the wrong way…”

Progress is also still always divided and measured along party lines, so only one side can gain merit. What a predicament. I wonder if this bias will remain indefinitely and “We The People” will still continue to see nothing “wrong with that…”

For now, I rest my case because it seems – from what I am hearing — that I may have a contrary mindset.

But I think we must wake-up and smell the coffee, because, if we don’t, we will continue to make the same biased mistakes, simply because we refuse to see both sides of the coin.

How sad!

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