Cultivating pride and self-respect in our people

Tue Nov 26, 2013

Editor: Children learn behavioural patterns at a young age from their parents and the society in which they live. After a while, they think that such behaviour is normative. This reality of this situation was even more evident on the weekend, when an attempt to beautify the environment outside the gate of one of the top secondary schools was derailed. Some pretty exoria flowers that someone took the time to plant so that their beauty would be appreciated was dug up and taken away. How sad! What message are we sending our children? Where is our self-respect as a nation?{{more}}

This type of behaviour suggests that it is alright to see someone labour while others watch and wait patiently to reap the benefits without lifting a finger. The situation is even more painful because some persons may want to justify that the lack of employment has caused this dastardly action. It is obvious that the flowers were dug up and sold. To my mind, someone can be poor, yet maintain their dignity and self-respect. In a time when the Ministry of Education, with assistance from UNICEF, is trying to establish child-friendly schools here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, this does not augur well for the future. I hope this generates some discussion among the many talk show hosts, rather than the usual focus on politics. Let’s talk about restoring national pride in our people. After all Vincentians are patriotic and hold their country in high esteem. Really?

Sad