The writing's on the wall

THE EDITOR: Long ago there was a king who had a feast for his people, lords and ladies. As the party grew the music got louder and dancers started getting down. The king cared nothing about the poor and needy, he was about having a good time, much like some leaders in TT today.

As is common among partygoers, the ordinary become boring so the king decided that drinking from ordinary vessels was not going to cut it. He commanded the gold and silver vessels from the temple so his princes, wives and concubines might drink from them. So very much like the desire to use a house of worship to parade scantily clad women for the sake of fashion.

As the party continued, the king noticed a hand, writing a message on the wall but there was no person...just a hand. He thought he must have been drunk as moreover, the words made no sense to him.

Soon he realised he was not drunk since by that time the party stopped and everyone was watching the writing on the wall. He also realised no one knew what the words meant. He offered wealth to anyone who could explain what was written but to no avail.

Someone reminded the king about a wise but ignored man, someone like the leader of the DPTT, who today is often ignored by those who like things the way they are. The king reached out to this man. The man told the king that the words meant the Lord had numbered the days of his reign. It meant the king was placed on a scale and found wanting. Later that night the king was slain and his kingdom ended. The full story can be read in the Bible, book of Daniel, chapter five.

It is an interesting story as we enter an election period. Activists are out in their full party regalia. Wine, rum and food aplenty. The arguments have already degenerated into insults, allegations of misconduct in public office and race. In a local government election where local government reform is critical to the way forward, the discussion is about impropriety in public office with each side accusing the other of being more corrupt.

No one is seeing the handwriting on the wall. They are so consumed with the fete that they are ignoring the lack of foreign exchange to support the greed for foreign goods, they are ignoring the words that say we cannot feed ourselves and are dependent on ships to bring food lest we starve.

We are ignoring the writing that says it is not ok for over 400 to be murdered each year. The writing says it is not intelligent, mature or progressive for a small island of less than 1.3 million people to be divided among ethnic groups as such divisions cannot allow for growth and development. Few are considering that it is best to seek the wisdom of the ignored one before we have no choice but to so do.

STEVE ALVAREZ

Political leader, DPTT