Painting thecountry with cynical brush

THE EDITOR: Labels might be unpolished simplifications but, generally, they don’t lie. All in all, therefore, it’s okay to simplify. The problem arises when we forget simplifications are low-tide shorelines formed by pre-existing notions and go on to take them for the highwater mark of what’s real. Or possible.

Here in TT our governance choice is generally either corn or sugar. Straight always. On the rocks, shaken, or stirred. Never blended. Simply put, we have a problem. Simply put, the orbit is too low. To attain proper trajectory, to embrace the rainbow, we don’t need another quick fix.

The narrow range of serious choices prevents us from thinking and implementing outside the box. Unblended governance is generally retro: implementers fuss over the letter of the law, not the spirit; progress is hamstrung by the inescapable jerkiness of the trip; everybody shrugs their shoulders rather than put shoulders to the wheel. The future’s tumbling quickly beyond reach. For the children’s sake, we need a turbo-charged engine.

I say we need a new engine, because the "old ways" seemingly are unable to understand their snapshots won’t ever reflect reality totally. Or that citizens need the big picture to unleash TT’s inherent creativity and turn this place into the paradise it was created to be. Indeed, we will keep missing the point unless we break free from the unconcerned sluggishness 50-year-old labels confer.

Nothing short of groundbreaking will move us from between a rock and a hard place. I’m sorry, but there’s no room for tone-deaf drivers anymore.

RICHARD W THOMAS, Arouca