Big baby

A baby is lying in its crib, sucking a pacifier and gurgling. The mother, ready to feed it, takes the pacifier from its mouth. Pleasure removed, the baby starts to scream, its face darkening with the intense rush of blood to its skin. The phone rings and the mother, expecting an important call, answers it, delaying the act of feeding – which would have calmed the baby’s hysterics – for a moment.

As minutes tick away in telephone conversation, denied pleasure and delayed gratification intensify the baby’s tantrum.

Understandably, the child is too young to comprehend that a few minutes of not having its needs met is but a drop in the bucket of potential disappointments in life ahead. Ideally, with growth and the increasing capacity to think for itself, it will become less dependent on others and be in a position to get whatever it needs or wants.

The society of TT (more so Trinidad, from my perspective) often behaves like a big baby or a spoiled child whose parents are the government and other national "authorities." Along comes covid19 and the "parents" place restrictions on their "child," trying to protect it from perceived danger.

Unable to see a bigger picture, the child/society screams and cries, seeing only that its pleasures have been removed – albeit temporarily – by cruel parents.

“No Carnival! No beach or river! No gathering and liming with friends! No KFC and those other oily, greasy fast foods! Be home by 9 pm or else!”

The child is too young to understand that a short period of its life without these things is not the end of the world.

Often referred to as "a young nation," the society of TT appears to thrive on a surface level of instant gratification which, once removed (even if temporarily for a perceived greater good) may be cause for distress and rebellion among some.

The child that is TT is generally short-sighted, often unable to see beyond its own base needs (alcohol, Carnival, beach, fast food, fetes, limes, etc) and its political affiliations and preferences. Corrective glasses or maybe even a microscope (to look more closely) or telescope (to see a bigger picture) would enable the proverbial child to see beyond its myopic "crib" of an existence.

Like the baby who cannot understand why its mother has removed the pacifier, the child that is TT does not always seem fully able to comprehend that we (both "children" and "parents") are each responsible for our (successful or not) livelihood as a nation.

Our nation has not shown that it possesses the maturity and consciousness to pause and look deeply into itself, honestly examine its problems and open up to and engage whatever and whoever will enable ongoing positive transformation and growth. Thus far, has this "child" ever even had the level of guidance that would enable it to begin doing so?

Freud’s theory of the five psychosexual stages through which childhood development occurs (the oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital) can be symbolically applied to the concept of TT being stuck in its national infancy.

Let’s look at the first two stages as examples.

In the oral stage, the infant satisfies its libido by placing various items in its mouth to suck and bite. Later in life, this can play out in the form of smoking, drinking, compulsive eating – actions indulged in especially when under stress.

Might we surmise that this infantile nation is fixated on the oral stage, constantly seeking gratification through the pleasures of drinking and eating? Current removal of those pleasures through closure of bars, restaurants and street food stalls therefore deals a severe blow.

During the anal stage, the child’s focus is on the anus and pleasure is derived from defecating. Conflict is first experienced when adults place restrictions upon the child’s freedom of expression through "expulsion" by telling it where and when to defecate and to not play with its stool.

Could this be the stage in which our infantile nation is stuck? When things get messy and "the child" is told what to do and how to do it to keep things clean and orderly (eg lockdown, restrictions, curfew), "the child" rebels, referring to its parents as "a**holes" and bitterly citing decisions and mandates as "sh-t" (anal fixation).

Will the baby ever grow up? Will its parents ever be sufficiently wise and loving to guide it successfully to wholesome and balanced maturity?