Day after day, my frustrations are heightened by what appears to be a flagrant disregard for any semblance of order in our society. I am constantly reminded of a racist joke where it is said that a White man said to a Black man, "give us Africa, and we will give you America, and soon America will be asking Africa for aid..." What does that have to do with St. Lucia? In spite of the efforts by those who market St. Lucia to European tourists in North America and Europe to conceal our African heritage and presence, and despite the efforts of individuals to deny their Africanity, we are undeniably predominantly African. Now guess who is always begging for aid?

Either I am making this up about the level of chaos and disorder, or something is really wrong with our society. Consider the following:

A show at the Marchand grounds and we have to fight our way in.

A shortage of flour or sugar, and we will fight any one in front of us.

Park your car properly in a parking space and someone will block you in and disappear with no care an concern for what they have done.

Go to the market, and people are spread out any way whatsoever fighting each other for customers.

Streets have no names, no signs, and no systematic layout.

To get someone’s address, they have to draw you a map.

Have an entertainment function, 100 vendors show up without permission, they crowd the place, fill the air with stifling hydrocarbons, and provide no receptacles for their customers to throw their garbage - after all, what are the prisoners for? Right?

Check the streets on a school-day morning, cars sit on top of each other, and no one will let the children cross the street.

Your home or store is burglarized, you know the culprit, and the Police tell you make a citizens arrest.

You want information from a government office and you are routed 20 times before you can find someone who will give you an incomplete answer.

Friday and Saturday night, no matter how long and tired your week, the neighbor will prevent you from hearing your own thoughts with loud music of all sorts. Where is the Police? Only a stone throw away and they do nothing.

Go to a doctor’s office, and every one in there has the same appointment time.

A number of Police officers walking around aimlessly with note pads (ticket books) in their hands. Flagrant traffic violations take place all around them - nothing said, nothing done.

Need I mention the traffic lights that don’t work, that are poorly sequenced, that do not flash in the middle of the night when there is little or no traffic so people run red lights any way? That traffic cops have to intervene at certain intersections during rush hour because the lights do not make sense. Believe you me, the temperament of a people is highly correlated with the efficiency of the structure of its transportation and communication system.

Need I remind you of our transportation system and the chaos that exist within it?

The homeless and the elderly sitting near City Hall hungry and begging with no social safety net - not even a bowl of soup or bouillon made with the bananas that did not make it for export. Where is our government?

The pot holes that spring up every where with no apparent strategy for fixing them permanently - Martinique has damn good roads and has similar topography to ours.

The small businesses that operate out of hell-holes, and expect us to be satisfied with their environment and service.

An apparent developmental strategy that is equivalent to putting a nice coat of paint on a crumbling structure and expecting the house to hold up during the earthquake.

Priests and government ministers sow their oats with young teenage girls while we preach of population control and morality.

Campaigns financed with drug money appear to be an issue in local politics.

Rampant corruption in government and with associates of the government.

Rampant nepotism and favoritism in both the public and private sectors.

The apparent disregard by developers and the Planning Division for orderly urban and sub-urban development. Tracts of land are "developed" without proper paved roads and servicing. No one enforces the regulations if there are any.

A DA’s office that has a track record of loosing serious cases involving possible murder.

Rental prices for homes are escalating unabated with no protection for tenants. There is no Tenancy Board to look after the interest of tenants - where is the government for the people? Similarly, consumers are in other areas have no one championing their causes against shoddy business practice.

Is there someone who could make a difference who cares at all?

Sum these up with all the others that I did not mention and we get chaos. While all societies endure some measure of chaos, what really gets to me is how pervasive this phenomenon is. Our former PM used to remind me of an old AT&T slogan "reach out and touch someone". There are few arms-length transactions!!

As we face the challenges of the 21st century, and as the world races on constantly redefining our global social and economic environment, can we afford the degree of chaos that currently exists within our society? Will it allow us to provide equal opportunity for all of our citizens? Will it allow the genius within our society to emerge. I must remind St. Lucians, that the genius of our St. Lucian Nobel Laureates was not nurtured in St. Lucia, but outside of it. Being born here provides no legitimate basis for claiming responsibility for their success. Arthur Lewis and Derek Walcott could have very well been born in Barbados or St. Vincent for that matter.

As chaos begets chaos, it is imperative that we break the cycle to improve the living conditions for St. Lucians. How do we break the cycle of chaos? We must note that chaotic government can create and/or perpetuate a chaotic society, and a chaotic society can inspire chaotic government (since the government is elected by the people). We can certainly start by brining order to government and to the police. How do we do that you ask? Take five and think about it. I would ask that more of our women who seem to have very good skills are creating order out of disorder, should actively engage in the debate.

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