Up to us to make Trinidad and Tobago better

THE EDITOR: I clearly remember my fellow engineers who were working for Turner on the Newark Theatre talking excitedly about their experience onsite. They met the sound consultant Dr Amar Gopal Bose. They spoke in glowing terms of this simple man of Indian ancestry who was simply a genius. They had never encountered someone so brilliant.

As I reflect on this simple but great man that founded the Bose Corporation and was responsible for one of the world’s greatest brands of sound equipment, I recall other geniuses like Steve Jobs of Apple and Einstein. These great individuals have now all passed away.

Dr Bose died in July of 2013. It is clear that no matter how brilliant one is, how beautifully created, how rich, how educated or how powerful, every one of us will face our ultimate fate – death.

Every human, regardless of race, religion, sect, ancestry or bloodline, will die, most before reaching 80 years on Earth. Yet, despite this undeniable reality, many of us are filled with pride, varying levels of narcissism, self-importance and a desire to dominate others.

There are spouses who believe that their importance in the relationship must be one of control. There are employers who believe that their position must be to extract as much as they can from their employees without any desire to contribute towards their development.

The desire to control, to dominate, to elevate oneself over others, to gather as much wealth and power as is possible in our short lifetime have caused the world tremendous pain, disaster and unhappiness among mankind.

Politicians are in a unique position. These are the people who determine the infrastructure of one’s country, the quality of life of citizens, the structures that manage communities, the levels of education that are available, the people's ability to feed themselves, security and how the people treat with natural disasters. Without any doubt, no other group of people have as much impact on the lives of humanity as the politicians.

If the politicians therefore acknowledge the vulnerability of mankind, the certainty of death, and the limited time available to make a positive impact in the world, common sense will dictate that their motivation and desire would be to make life better for those who look up to them for guidance.

Politics is among the noblest of professions. It offers one the opportunity to bring joy to the many. To feed the many, to protect the many and to prepare for generations to come and inherit a place that allows for happiness.

We the people must seek from among us those with such noble aspirations. People who see God in every face and not race. We and only we can determine the future of TT and the world and that requires of us to see mankind and not sects, to see that together we can make this world a better place. Let us choose wisely.

STEVE ALVAREZ

via e-mail