Carmona tells grads: The most serious smile from the heart

SEETA PERSAD

President Anthony Carmona, yesterday said there are people in society who are dysfunctional in their political conduct.

Not just political, Carmona told a graduation ceremony at Iere High School, Siparia, yesterday, but in terms of their social conduct and in terms of their integrity as well. He said such people who hold high office, are a disappointment to the country.

Carmona said, “When you have happy childhood days, it becomes a foundation to rely on for the rest of your lives. The most serious people I have met in my life locally, regionally and internationally - ninety per cent of the time they smile from their hearts and not from their faces.”

Carmona called on parents at the graduation ceremony to make sure they bring a sense of happiness and warmth to their families. This, he said, is what the youths of today will take into their adult years. On this note, he said, “Sometimes when I see people in society being dysfunctional in terms of their social conduct, in terms of their political conduct, in terms of their integrity, sometimes, I wonder if it boils down to what took place in their childhood days. Materialism is not a philosophy in life that we should pursue.”

Carmona went on to say that as President, he often has to appoint people to commissions and to boards, and, in doing so, he must exercise his sole discretion. “I do not conduct interviews with persons applying for these positions. I have dialogue with them. I will speak with them for two hours. Because what I am looking for, is character, for heart, for passion, for commitment, for selflessness and for patriotism.”

The President told the graduates that it matters not if a person has a master’s degree. If they do not have good qualities, he added, he will not appoint them to public office. He urged the graduates to go out in the world and “give them thunder” on what he described as the platform of social consciousness.

Carmona said, “Isn’t it a fact that those are the things that really matter? Even though my wife and I did not have all the amenities as kids growing up, we had happy childhood days in the south land. When we were children, there was a greater sense of community bonding as we look to our future in life.”