How does one account for the strange dissonance in telling parents that their unvaccinated children couldn’t attend in-person school while also failing to ask teachers if they’d been vaccinated?
We talk endlessly about being cosmopolitan but we rarely take stock of what that means, of the whole that is made up of so many parts blended together in a way you won’t find anywhere else.
Against the backdrop of SEA results released last week, in which almost 7% more students scored under 30% than last year, I wonder if we grasp what kind of whirlwind we’re preparing to reap if we continue to ignore the ways we’re allowing children to tumble into the gaping chasm between those who have the good fortune of meaningful educational support and those who don’t.
What does it even mean “pro-life” in a world where so many seem comfortable with an ever-climbing death toll at the hands of a virus if it means they get to enjoy their lives as they see fit? The same people aren’t particularly bothered by extrajudicial police killings, maternal and infant mortality rates, or even making sure that children have enough to eat.
I have to ask what it is Trinbagonians really want at this point of the neverending shitshow. The hard truth that our big, hardback, 59-year-old nation needs to fully face is that this is a PANdemic and it is not over.
Authority does not exist in a vacuum. People vest power and authority in individuals and organisations so they can fulfil their responsibilities. We give them the authority so that they may serve in our best interests.
It’s one thing to be caught in a terrifying global scenario and understand the need to hold strain until things get better. It’s another thing entirely to sit and watch as other people’s (thoughtless at best, selfish at worst) actions extend everyone’s suffering nearly two years later. Even as the tools to improve everyone’s circumstances are right there.
I’m not saying “The Black Jacobins” should be on the primary school curriculum. I’m simply saying that, as a nation still struggling mightily with the lessons our former colonial masters taught, we should probably be doing better than this when it comes to educating our children about their history.
Whether we’re pursuing excellence in our fields or striving to keep a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs during a pandemic, we deserve REST.
When I see a billionaire spending vast amounts of money to send a penis-shaped rocket to outer space for a few minutes ✨during a pandemic✨… I have questions.