COMMENTARY: The one sure road leading to a changed country
By Dickson Igwe, Contributor
Culture change and changes in social behaviour are the prerequisites for a safer and more wholesome society.
Now, a society is simply the sum total of individuals, families, and communities that make up that society. A society and a country are synonyms. The Virgin Islands, for example, is a country. Families and communities make up the wider Virgin Islands society.
The preceding idea of a society is not rocket science. A family’s morals, strengths or weaknesses, is a reflection of the members of that family, and their individual dispositions or characters. It is much the same for organisations. People decide the direction of a business or organisation just as people determine a country’s direction.
Society is made of communities of people who work, play, sleep, think, and decide the outcomes of that society. A country is a collection of families, communities, and societies: the sum total of the people that populate the land.
To bring about both social and economic change is not just about managing resources and people by politicians and leaders. It goes deeper.
There is no change without change in the behaviours and mindsets of the people who make up the society and country.
Change social behaviour
A change in social behaviour is crucial for the positive direction of a country, over and above any fine-tuning of the country’s politics and society by elites or leaders. Show me the individual in his or her rawest form and I will have an idea of where he or she will end up in the great play called life.
The same with a country. Show me the people of a country and their morals, values, and culture and that will give me a fair idea of the state of that country.
Change requires courage and resolution. It requires a change of values and culture.
The great movements of history: the arrival of representative democracy; the defeat of fascist tyrannies; social welfare; social justice; international law and order; and more; were driven by great leaders. However, these leaders would never have been able to carry out these historic changes without the masses of the people who were the cogs in the wheels of change.
Transparent, accountable, and honest governance are worthy ideals for the Virgin Islands. The preceding combined with visionary leadership will lead to the promised land.
However, without a change in our own individual behaviours that in turn leads to wider social and cultural change, all is in vain.
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The BVI is going backwards fast
Mr. Igwe I love this piece but you should have posted some of the aggravating factors that are preventing such change in behavior whether cultural or otherwise. Look forward to a continuation of this piece.
Role models (not traffickers)
Admiration and elevation of good students and high achievers
Education and knowledge the bedrock or people keep taking advantage of naive local people.
Helping and encouraging achievement (knowing all benefit from progress) end this jealous s**t bvi w Indies pi** on one own when they look too good.
Accept the long game as an intelligent society and stop taking horrshite promises and fool errand solution from moron politicians and private actors close to them. Spend smart money to make our infrastructure smart and long lived.
Get fkn 1st world.
Establish full address system take advantage off GPS. Probably a software package to do territory orderly
Grow up families and get your land settled into companies so you can be ordered and protected and develop and progress rather than squabble wi cousins and watch white guy build thing.
Then we realize one thing never gone is bvi beauty so reverse we rep as aholes in hospitality (mostly customs imm and sloppy public spaces )
Once we straightened right, the richest a Caribbean place can expect, within long term hospitality and real estate, rather than gone tomorrow finance biz, is to become a st barths. Where the locals make so much money from renting or selling their land that they on vacation 1/2 year and clip coupons. Bvi prettier. All they got is service, cleanliness, order, and more respect for themselves.Respect our treasure. Bvi Meet the standards and bvi get drenched in gold .
I agree with above statement. Clean up this trash dump of an island and remember this is every person doing their part and land and home values will sky rocket. We live on one of the most beautiful islands anywhere in the world but we do not treat it as such. Lets get to work!