Look on the brighter side

How does one sum up a year? Is it in the usual “eventful” manner? Every year, every day, indeed every moment is “eventful”, so what makes one year more “eventful” than another? For some people it is a personal choice depending on how events may have impacted on you, for others it may be external occurrences.

One’s age also plays a role for the older you get, the more precious the moments. The last two years have had a profound effect on my life for instance, having had to cope with the death of persons close to me, including my mother and a sister, but I am no different from millions of others, who have had, in some cases, very harrowing experiences. We all have to cope with these and try to emerge all the stronger because of them.

That is the case not only at an individual level but collectively at community, national and global levels. The world is not only about the negatives, the tragedies, wars, starvation and so on, in spite of what the media highlights, there are also many positives, most of which are not given prominence.

We tend to remember murders, crimes and all the other negatives in our lives, yet the shining examples for the future are ignored or forgotten. It is therefore comforting to note the initiative of the Bank of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (BOSVG) to feature 12 young people, young entrepreneurs on its calendar for the year 2020. My congratulations to the BOSVG and especially to those featured.

In this vein, we cannot let 2019 be remembered only for the human failings, we must reflect with pride all that our young people exhibited positively during the year. If you listen to us, the older folk, you will get the impression that the world was such a much greater place before the young generation arrived, but is it really so? We used to feel that obtaining three or four GCE passes was a feat; today young people are taking eight or nine in their stride. Getting to university was almost a step to heaven, now we have set our sights on at least one university graduate from every household.

In line with these accomplishments, our expectations have also grown. Sadly those expectations seem to place demands on everyone else but ourselves and if they are not fulfilled, it is always the fault of everyone else but ourselves. The reflections that we make and the resolutions for the New Year must centre on our own efforts to rectify our weaknesses and failings as much as we demand such rectification from others and the society as a whole.

Our media, in competing for our collective attention, gives more prominence to deaths than births, gives the impression that court proceedings are mainly about criminal activities, so the negatives in our society, and the world in general shape our concepts about the world as a place doomed and about to end. We seldom remember what we see of our young entrepreneurs and give them the encouragement and space to go forward, preferring to talk about those who indulge in crime and violence.

As we reflect, is it not time to take a more positive approach? How can we help to promote the good within us and in our society, to highlight the potential in our young people and to use it as a catalyst to combat the negatives and to pave the way for a brighter future trail blazed by our youth with the full support of the rest of us.