I WAS THINKING … about the 17 unfortunate persons who have been killed this year.

At this rate, St Vincent and the Grenadines is projected to easily exceed the 30 homicides per 100,000 persons crisis marker, come December 31.

Some of these murders were especially horrific, none more so than that of the teenaged girl whose remains were found in a crocus bag by the side of the road.

Each time there is a murder, social media, along with the radio talk shows rant and rave about the nature of the crime, the prevalence of guns, the limitations of the police and so on. It is a four-day ritual that repeats itself every two weeks or so.

What has me thinking is that ultimately, the best approach to successfully tackle this heinous recurring decimal is moral suasion at a national level, with constant messaging of tolerance, patience, compromise, concession, collaboration, community, and love. We don’t hear enough of these critical variables. We don’t do enough in this regard, for the sake of country.

Regrettably, I hear too much divisiveness among our leaders – political and otherwise. We should use the radio stations to promote love and peace, instead of war and crime.

To reinforce this view, we celebrate some popular radio personalities who portray themselves as – “Bad Man”, “Hitman”, and “Pitbull”.

I would love to call them all, “Legendary”, if only they would come together and promote a long-lasting and effective collaborative programme of peace, not war.

Cruise Line Recruits IWAS THINKING… that the several hundred young Vincentians who turned up last weekend at Beachcombers hotel, with the hope of being recruited by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, is a good thing for the country.

I know that persons will say that the “crowds” outside the hotel at Villa signals the high unemployment rate here in the country. That there are many young persons who are seeking employment at home or abroad is a given. We can’t sugarcoat this fact. But at the same time, this is where we are and where we have been, for a very long time.

The fact that we have a better skilled talent pool than where we were 30 years ago, will facilitate opportunities to eventually get higher paying positions aboard the larger ships.

Although we don’t have a maritime training centre (and it is time that we do, as part of the evolving education revolution), the hospitality institute at Diamond will no doubt influence the decision by cruise lines to recruit Vincentians. Once the recruits are trained, disciplined and committed to deliver the expected service, it is not hard to imagine that we could have more than 3,000 Vincentians working m on cruise ships and collectively earning more than EC$80 million.

The country stands to benefit immensely from the remittances that these young sailors will send home regularly to their respective families.