Tales from a Frozen Place

I think the phrase, “Misery loves company” perfectly describes where we are as a society. One of my followers on the social media platform “X” i.e. Twitter, recently exclaimed, “Incompetence in the public service should be a study. It’s definitely cultural at this point.”

I agreed with him because we have all experienced poor customer service. At least once a week, there is an article in the paper outlining why the “State” has lost a case and must pay millions of dollars in damages or compensation to someone who was wrongfully arrested, maliciously prosecuted, had their civil rights curtailed or were denied a promotion. Another follower pointedly asked in response to one such article, “If there is rampant corruption in Government who will be held ultimately responsible. The PM right?”

I replied saying, “That thinking is why our society looks the way it does.” We eschew personal responsibility, preferring to pass the blame to someone who may be far removed from the process , without ever considering the actual root of the problem.

When things go wrong we hold and the courts also hold the “State” responsible because the person who committed the crime was acting as an agent of the State. The Government is after all the largest employer in Trinidad & Tobago. In reality, the perpetrators of these State crimes are police officers, members of a service commission, a public servant, a licensing officer. They are mothers, daughters, aunts, uncles, fathers, friends. 

We know the people whose individual actions affect us as a collective and hold our society back. We knock beers with them, hail them in fetes, work with them, play golf with them, play mas with them, In fact our children may even go to the same school as their children. 

It is why the Prime Minister and Minister of National Security have been asking citizens to tell law enforcement who is hiding the guns, and ostensibly why Opposition MP Dr. Rai Ragbir supported the passage of the Whistle Blower Protection Bill in the House. 

No system or social norm functions however unless a critical mass of people decide to enforce or uphold its conditions.  All change starts with us as individuals and cannot be left solely, to leaders who are often a reflection of the critical majority. So why is it then that our preferred response to incompetence, violence and discrimination is collective silence and or complaint with no action?

When we are in danger our biological response is to either fight or flee but what happens when we can do neither? When neither of those options seems like a good choice? As a post colonial society that was granted independence, it almost feels as if we have been conditioned to not fight for change. The only violent uprising I can recall are the Labour riots and even that was swiftly put down. The other explanation lies in a theory called the ‘Paradox of Choice.  Simply put, if we are presented with too many options, or feel that there are too many, we struggle to make a decision. Even if we are able to make a decision, it is likely that we will feel less satisfied. Truthfully, decision making strains the brain and our brain, like any computer programme works to simplify things, discarding what it deems as non-essential to reduce complexity. 

We are a frozen place because collectively, most of us have decided that things will be better, safer even if we do not speak up. Our newspaper headlines say different of course, but we have precious few examples of anyone successfully doing different. I remember when I purchased my car there were significant delays in licensing. I wanted to complain, but the salesperson at the dealership said complaining would only make it worse. Companies whose agents complained, often found themselves blacklisted and we are a small place. To be blacklisted is to be without a means to survive. 

Without discounting the human drive to survive, the reality is that change  can only happen when a critical mass of people decide that something different is better, and express that choice consistently over time. If we don’t demand better and keep turning a blind eye to inefficiency, illegality and incompetence, our young nation has no chance of progress. One inefficient or incompetent person can be ignored but when you multiply that behaviour by hundreds and thousands, things fall apart. You quickly find yourself asking, “How did we get here?”

Each of us has the responsibility to do what we can from where we are. F1 driver, Lewis Hamilton went over 300 races before his most recent victory. After the win he said, “The important thing is how you continue to get up and dig deep, even when you feel like you’re at the bottom of the barrel.” My own father the late Dr. Morgan Job used to admonish me by saying “You have to love life enough to suffer.” In that he meant to keep going, to keep saying and doing the right things, even when the whole world was against you. 

Culture change is slow work. Individual choices and actions create culture. If we think our officials are inherently selfish, then it is up to us to make less selfish choices because they are after all our reflection. To my fellow citizens and warriors in this fight: I know it is hard and at times it feels hopeless, but I ask that you dig deep and keep going!