The flood that cancelled emancipation festivities

Alred Frett

By Alred Frett, Contributor

As the world turns we continue to be burdened globally by social and climatic changes – typhoon in China, hurricane in Texas, floods in the West Indies, wars in the Middle East, lies and deceit in politics and a total eclipse of the sun. None of these individually guarantee the end of the world but rather than work to make it better, too many are giving up in despair and are preparing for imaginary heaven.

I do not subscribe to such conclusions so I am constantly asked why bother bringing truth to youths when everything seems lost and hopeless. Some ignore raw facts and judge me by their standards. They only see goals of office or revenge rather than understand that it is unnatural to condone wrong and survival means sharing the collective responsibility for leaving the World better than we met it.

This is about humanity and not personality and as difficult as things are just imagine our dilemma if freedom fighters like Mandela, King, and others had given up on the struggle. Today it’sour turn to save the next generation even when they wish not to be saved. Besides, it is in our own best interest to do all the good we can for as long as we can so things will be better for us when we no longer can.

To believe that nothing matters and we should not try to make a good difference suggests that we may as well lie in the middle of the street on a busy day. At least this gets us to Heaven faster. At the same time, doing the right thing is no promised bed of roses. There will always be resistance and opposition from those whose greed and wickedness have consumed the goodness they were born with.

Greed has no honour

Some young folks once told me I should realize that some persons will never understand because while I appear to look out for others their agenda is strictly about self and they are quite satisfied to let others suffer provided they can spend their own lives doing the very least while enjoying the most. A long unending holiday. We should all hope that none of our leaders think so little of us.

Unfortunately, as our own worst enemy in this 21^st Century of information we still think ‘regressively’ and staked our decisions and judgement on outdated principles and policies. We have allowed so little faith in ourselves that we continue to look for solutions from outside rather than inside. Consequently we have relegated ourselves to back of the pack and accepted being placed at the bottom of the pile.

As we make excuses for abuses we ignore natural lessons and opportunities. For example, while it is not unusual to postpone Emancipation celebrations from 1^st of August to the 1^st Monday in August in order to facilitate local Emancipation festivities, this year’s postponement delivered an unprecedented cancellation of all such activities due to constant rains Monday to Tuesday resulting in major flooding.

Instead of spectating and celebrating we found ourselves experiencing conditions similar to the effects of a major hurricane. Homes flooded, roads blocked, ghuts overflowed, trees toppled, no electricity, no water, no telephone, no TV, no internet and services and conditions we took for granted were all disrupted. Nonetheless, as horrific as this appears we know it could have been much, much worse.

Even as the physical and social damage continue to take a toll the superstitious are already citing this event as some prophecy or omen from imaginary gods warning and chastising BVI leaders and people for their wickedness. I much prefer regarding this as acts and consequences where the God of nature  laws of balance once again presents us with an opportunity to correct and improve the way forward.

Learning from Mistakes or accepting the Consequences

Like the rest of the world, this catastrophe could be our chance to reflect and better prepared for the extreme effects of climate change and bad leadership. A time to choose whether monies destined for political foolishness will be redirected towards the physical infrastructure and social well being of the territory and its people or whether government will impose new hardships to cover this act of God.

The effects are far from over for in addition to physical repairs and maintenance of public structures, goods and services, the health of the people is an incidental casualty of rainy August Monday 2017. Such events increase the number of air and water-borne pathogens affecting skin, respiratory and digestive systems as seen in allergies, rashes, colds and intestinal parasites such as H-Pylori.

Elections have consequences and Governments bear responsibility for the well being of their people. It is no secret that I have questioned the fairness of both the USA and BVI elections and I have often spoken of likely dangers posed by these Governments; especially the potential for the US elections to destroy America and the world. Both these Governments now face the common dilemma of flooding.

The erratic and unreasonable behaviour of Mr Trump has already caused psychiatrists to warn congress that as president he poses a “clear and present danger” to the world especially since Mr Trump carries around a doom’s day brief case containing nuclear war codes that could destroy the world in less than 10 minutes. Of course most supporters are mirror images of their candidates.

For now, our leaders may not be as bad as theirs and our greatest need is for works, labour and health departments to act sensibly and expeditiously to avoid this one-day event becoming a long-term national disaster. Simply put, the Test as to whether Government will enact the things we have been saying in order to save and protect our country. So far, they have failed but this is a fresh opportunity.

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