Dickson Igwe, resident socio-economic and political columnist
This Old Boy has a perverse delight in reading the lamentations of residents of specific societies. It is not schaden-freude. It is simple acknowledgement that we all reap what we sow individually, socially, and corporately.
It is clearly so with societies and countries. That poor choices lead to misery is cliché’. The sum total of poor choices by a country’s residents leads to national misery.
His favorite case study is a failed state that is the sum total of the greed, covetousness, and outright maliciousness of a significant percentage of that society’s population- especially its leadership.
He has always warned that society that without a change in social behavior of the critical mass of that country’s population, it will continue to lament and gnash the proverbial teeth. He is never surprised at the daily rendition of woe and misery that permeates that country: terrorism; banditry; cult murder; the looting of public treasuries; fraud; poverty; and so on and so forth.
The Virgin Islands appears to be following a similar trajectory. In fact, most countries that sing a wolf song of colonialism and imperialism as the raison deter for their maladies inhabit a similar world.
These societies labor under the false belief that every wrong has been the fault of some outside power. Paradoxically these societies also covet the might is right, and that wrong is strong fairy tale.
They worship at the feet of the corrupt man of power, the scamp, and detest the honest individual. Ironically, the religious folk are the guiltiest of this malady. The just and honest man is a fool who deserves his penury.
In the end, the honest man has the last laugh as he is allowed by divinity to witness the fall and fall of these societies.
Paradoxically, most of these societies are highly religious. Religion becomes an excellent camouflage, the place to hide all the rot: the tomb filled with dead men’s bones. This has always been the natural place of religion and the pious. History reveals that reality.
Not to let the so called ‘’developed’’ countries off the hook: all societies suffer from poor choices. In Britain BREXIT has been a very poor choice. In the USA, the love of Donald Trump has damaged democracy and national institutions; and tyranny has brought Russia to the brink of collapse, and global pariah status.
In a few months, the Virgin Islands will have an election. The voting public will have a choice. Recent history will reveal a litany of poor choices made by too many residents. This has resulted in the state of the society today: wasted billions, unsustainable social entitlement, and international disgrace.
This resident admonishes that voters think clearly before deciding whom to place in power.
Voters should study recent history. Yes, voters in every society vote their bottom line. However, do remember that honesty and integrity in governance deliver better long- term outcomes in the end.
Your grandchildren will thank you for your wise choice at the ballot box.
So choose wisely.
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Dickson Igwe is an education official in the Virgin Islands. He is also a national sea safety instructor. He writes a national column across media and has authored a story book on the Caribbean: 'The Adventures of a West Indian Villager'. Dickson is focused on economics articles, and he believes economics holds the answer to the full economic and social development of the Caribbean. He is of both West African and Caribbean heritage. Dickson is married with one son.
