
By Dr. Richard A. Byron-Cox
As a child, I listened to the BBC World News at 7 am every morning and was mesmerized by how precisely on time it was every time. I stopped listening to this British brainwashing and global propaganda gig more than 3 decades ago, but remain impressed with their respect for time. On joining the UN in Geneva, that Swiss-clockwork nation so impacted me, I concluded that it’s the societal perfection of the Old Faithful. Other similar experiences have fashioned me to the point where my abhorrence for ill-discipline as regards time is so total that I am NEVER late!! Conversely, in SVG, respect for appointed time insults national ethics. Righteous contempt for being on time is but one form of our societal ill-discipline.
There are many more such as the flying garbage that pollutes the streets and sidewalks, flung from travelling vehicles, and many men who “take a leak” anytime, anywhere, as this is accepted behaviour!
Untrustworthiness is part of the DNA of some. With these types, “My word is my bound” means, “I am going to make an ass of you!” Politicians lead the pack as masters of abusing the trust of others. This is so routine, it can have you believing that “A promise is a comfort to a fool,” is essential political philosophy of some of these practitioners. Some of you reading this have been deceived by tradesmen, “business” people, …. and “friends.” Even when one does everything to convince the promiser he can say, “no can do” for there are other options, the latter gives “faithful” assurances, believing that you are an ass, saddled for his comfort.
Our ill-discipline and untrustworthiness sometimes seem to have no boundaries, are no respecter of occupation, duties, rules, laws, beliefs, or person. There are public-sector employees who show up only to ensure they are paid at month end. These include some teachers who go galivanting on their birthdays, not even informing the Head Teacher, and leaving their charges to gay abandon. One sometimes calls the police to report a matter; they take the call, then promptly return to the game of cards or dominoes, and might be even having “ah strong rum.” Yes, this is fact!! Many citizens have time and again highlighted the ill-discipline on our roads, and the generally disrespectful, rude, uncultured, unschooled ignoramuses we call bus drivers. Just to say here then: the government and police have proven to be even more ill-disciplined in this regard. The people’s lamentations fall on deaf ears, as neither entity appreciates that discipline is enforced through governance and more so self-governance.
A few years ago, the government’s mantra was, “We must get the small things right.” Probably this societal ill-discipline is so huge a thing that government has been frightened into inertia, and the little things remain unattended. Oh, and the church, in this regard, is in general, a nuisance. With each pastor/preacher seeking his own kingdom on earth, their glasshouses must be protected, so even when one in their fraternity is guilty of ill-discipline and untrustworthiness, the majority are silent, while the vocal few, shamelessly defends the indefensible by declaring “he who has no sin cast the first stone.” Your 4-year-old daughter is no safer with such pastors, than with a convicted paedophile.
The greatest part of this culture of ill-discipline and untrustworthiness is that unlike in many other countries, we in SVG see this as fully acceptable, so when challenge, we back it up with a multiverse of excuses. For instance, when a government official is late for an official function, reason is: “Oh, he is a very busy man.” I suppose that makes people like me idlers, with time to be concerned with respecting others’ time. The traffic is the scapegoat of the ordinary man, never mind that if he has a flight, traffic or not, he will be there in time, for no airline is going to wait. Others will tell you that their car broke down, their child or grandmother got sick, or that they overslept. All this with the complimentary smile, inviting you to join in their sick joke. Those who owe you money will simply avoid you, or suffer convenient amnesia. Some will continually promise to do that for which they had given assurance, but never doing so until you get the message that you are an ass to have reposed confidence in them! Truth is, the promise of the average Vincentian is best forgotten before made. Ill-discipline and untrustworthiness, buttressed by a ready-made bag of lying excuses is seasoned behaviour of many; part of our patrimony, part of the “cultural” landscape! Yes, this happens in every society, our problem is, it has societal blessing.
