A nation of zombies

THE EDITOR: Thank God the world is coming to its senses and learning to live with covid19. Nature operates in cycles to enable those who can’t hear her rumblings to feel her wrath.

As the energy of covid19 subsides we are left to count our financial losses. There are still many unsolved problems that the expenditure did not bring to rest.

As we grasp for comfort in 2022, the main thrust will be to reopen school fully. Soon the toddlers in kindergarten will be sent to primary school and these new recruits groomed for their first taste of the rat race, SEA, making it business as usual.

As covid19 entombs itself the age-old question of what is education resurrects. Another answer is the training of the young to inherit and sustain the planet.

Allow the children to congregate and they will gravitate to games and rules of their age. They participate and execute without the biases of race, colour, creed, status and religion. What should they be taught when they are on the verge of losing that innocence?

They have just experienced a pandemic and for their survival they were advised to wash their hands, wear a mask, physically distance themselves from others and to some extent to vaccinate.

This is an opportune time to teach those under 12 years of age about diseases: age-related, lifestyle, communicable, those that they can avoid and the recovery process through natural means and with the help of pharmaceuticals.

To maintain that the three Ws are enough education is an insult to their intelligence and to invite generation next to be zombies with the echo of vaccinate reverberating through their being.

At this tender age they must know that they were entrusted with an immune system and have the responsibility to keep themselves healthy. In future years they must never be ambushed by the cruel side of nature and have to depend on the ignorance of adult leadership for their survival. The ultimate in education for them should be the relationship with their bodies.

Vying for the secondary goals of doing CXC and pursuing tertiary education honours should never supersede the morals and virtues of the society and the longevity of the planet. Education for the teenager is now a runaway train.

The magnetic pull of dollars and the attraction of prestigious office in service organisations and factories are the enticements to rape the planet of its resources. We hoard so much that we forget and fill even the entrances to our graves. The greed and demands of businesses mark the beginning of the demise of the planet.

Adults brag and boast of their dreams for their children via the educational system. Mission is accomplished if achievements fall within the categories of engineers, lawyers, doctors, CEOs, directors or the owners of large acreage. No thought was spared for a planet to be inherited as a playground. So we have given our offspring licence to pollute and plunder the planet.

For the adult, education is reparation, constructing a platform for our offspring to enjoy their achievements. What we thought was an invaluable inheritance is now a depleted planet scarred by global warming.

Wrapped in this gift-package is famine, floods, excess heat and all of nature’s fury. In ignorance we never considered the cost of what we were saving for our children. The irony: what was saved is not enough to repair the damage.

Are we willing to reverse the process? Do we have the energy or the time?

Education did not keep us in tune with reality. We did not observe and learn the harsh lessons from Mother Nature. Foresight was lacking and before we could self-destruct Father Time came knocking to tell us of the limited time we have.

We know that doomsday is near when leadership has given up the citizenry for adoption by any pharmaceutical company that can produce an antidote for ill health, be it mental or physical.

At attention we once sang God Save the Queen and even endorsed God Bless America. Our own Timothy Watkins (The Baron) warned that Mother Earth is dying and we must stop the polluting.

I fear that there will be no more singing if we stand still – for zombies don’t sing.

LENNOX FRANCIS

via e-mail