A time for true grit

THE EDITOR: It has happened. The virus is now set to reach the average man on the street. With all the hiding and ducking and bobbing and weaving, the statistics about daily infections and deaths are horrendously real, and set to get worse, for those purporting to protect us all along are now asking us to fend for ourselves.

And small TT is not alone in this. Many countries are seeing unusually high spikes and even the singular Barbados, so much in control it seemed, so exemplary, so “Mottley” in terms of good leadership, seems on the brink.

Maybe it is all part of a more ambitious plan by more powerful countries to gain world domination as has been suggested in some quarters. Remember Bill Gates and his idea of overpopulation in the world and the need to control it? Is there merit to the conspiracy theories arising re controlling the world’s population and isn’t it suspicious that a Chinese scientist who dared to speak about the goings-on in the lab suddenly disappeared? What of the release of young Chinese ambassadors in Europe to integrate with the population and of the decision to hold the Winter Games in China which would mean international athletes going to the games and then returning to their respective countries? (Talking Point: YouTube)

Do all these seem to tie into the idea of controlling the rest of the world through the disruption that a virus can bring, and which it has, and is the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative part of that plan with Chinese investment all over the world, even in the Caribbean as with loans to Barbados, the intent being to bring in Chinese workers and assuming control when borrowers default, as is the case with the newly Chinese-built seaport in Colombo, Sri Lanka?

Recently a Chinese spokesperson on an Australian version of 60 Minutes spoke of the Armageddon likely to take place if anyone, including the US and Australia, dares to challenge the military might of China, which is amply demonstrated in a headline in a local daily of November 17, “Xi warns US playing with fire with Taiwan,” which is about to be forcibly integrated into mainland China as much as Hong Kong was. Is covid19 part of the military (germ warfare) plan to dominate the world as much as the Belt and Road Initiative is in the economic sphere?

Is small TT a pawn in this bigger game and does it seem to be succumbing, albeit inadvertently, hook, line and sinker? Strategies which could have countered the spread of covid19, like the free air on the beaches which could literally blow away an incoming pathogen, would have worked wonders and a less domineering approach of working with the people to protect themselves voluntarily equally so, for surely no one wants to die no matter how dire the challenges they face.

But as people, you’ve got to cajole them, be more persuasive and less authoritative, make them feel that they really matter, that you will protect them at all cost. Like taking in front and securing the vaccines before they ran out or providing drugs like ivermectin, now a proven anti-viral drug according to Dr John Campbell on YouTube or doing the same with the new discovery mulnoparavir, another anti-viral drug, which other countries are ordering way in advance.

But not only with medication. We must ensure that there is a balance between restrictions and letting the country work, opening all businesses including bars and allowing people to take care of themselves. And critically, sending the children back to school ensuring that all safety protocols are in place, especially emergencies, not throwing up their hands to high heaven as new cases arise because of the absence of such protocols.

But it is done and with the virus virtually on our doorstep, we must now fend for ourselves. But if even those who managed us did not have the character, the will and, more especially, the know-how of how to effectively take care of the people under their charge, we must show true grit as a people and take our destiny into our own hands and save ourselves by our own resourcefulness.

And we will!

DR ERROL N BENJAMIN

via e-mail