Mentally ill walking and talking

It was only recently that I was discussing with a journalist the mentally unhealthy state of Trinidad and Tobago.

The journalist was lamenting the fact that there is so much noise on the streets, so much cursing and aggression. Trinidadians seem not to be able to handle silence and tranquillity.

I can attest to the fact that sometimes I am jolted out of my sleep very early in the morning with people passing in the street, speaking very loudly, using the “f ” word, and just cursing as a regular part of their conversation. Many times the anger is about money. There have been reports about neighbours playing their music very loudly and when there are complaints the music is turned up louder. I ask where did these people go to school? I took a walk one day and two men who had not seen each other for a while greeted each other, “Hey, how yuh going? Long time no see.” This was the response of the person who was power-washing a yard, “Boy, dis m---er c--t power-washer givin’ mih some trouble here.” I saw children on their way to a primary school nearby. Actually he did not end there, but continued to curse the power-washer and the job he had to do, with no attention to the fact that children were passing by. There are so many illustrations of mental illhealth walking and lying down on our streets every day.

Rachael Ramkissoon was a motivated student who had dreams and goals of being the best that she could be, according to reports of family members. She will now have no opportunity to be that best. Our education system works for a few and sadly does not work for so many others.

I always ask what did that ten percent of our population, who is wreaking havoc on our streets and in our homes, learn in school. Were they registered at a school? Did they really go to school only for recess, as many boast? Many of us have been saying for years, that we must fix our curriculum.

Something is wrong with it. Our Minister of Education boasts of all schools up and running for the reopening of school, we see that is not so with students saying, “We want an education and not a vacation.” What are these children doing at home, where are they? Someone told me she was on the bus travelling from Morvant to Arouca, which she does every day and saw a child with smaller children getting into the bus along the route. After seeing him for a few days, she struck up a conversation and asked if he was not going to school. He was 14 years old and his response was that he is not going to school because school does not make sense. He drops his younger brothers and sister to school every morning. If Mom is working, what is this child doing during the day? I guess he has to pick up his siblings after school. There is another report of a 14-year-old male child, ironically from the same school, who is working during the day. Others miss school because they have one shoe and if it rains the day before the shoe is wet and he cannot go to school for about two days.

We do not understand that we belong to the classification of mammals.

We are warm-blooded. We suckle our young and we have hair at some time during our lifetime. What motivates us or drives us as animals are sex and aggression. If our children do not learn that we are created with two characteristics that make us different from the animals (or a higher order) we will grow up living from our animal nature.

The two characteristics with which we were created are the power to think (intelligence) and the power to choose our good (will). We must teach our children that these two characteristics make us human. After learning it will be natural for us to contribute positively to mankind, develop our sense of community, and share our talents and God-given gifts with others. These latter activities nurture our spirituality and our divine nature.

It does not matter if only ten percent of our population is causing all this chaos, sadness and pain. What matters is that this ten percent have children and cannot help them to be caring and spiritual human beings, therefore the cycle and ignorance will continue. This is what is happening here. We are not attending to the cause of all this chaos.

Again, I say that our Ministry of Education must do an audit of attendance at schools. Teachers need to report to the principal all those children, male and female, who are not attending school on a regular basis and then someone has to find these children and document the reasons why these children are not at school and “fix” it. We will continue to have our young women preyed upon by those who have not learned that they are human but still operate from their animal nature. They see a beautiful, simple, focused young woman and see her as a sex object. They are bigger and stronger and the aggression can put her under control and that is the end of that. An education which has a humanities foundation will definitely make a big difference.

James Baldwin said, “You cannot fix what you will not face.” My condolences go out to Rachael’s family, classmates and friends. Right now the pain is unbearable. It will be for a while. Then there will be anger at the world, and you will go into a depression. I do hope the Ministry of Education provides you with the help that you need to get to the point where you will be able to move on to a new reality without Rachael physically in your life. She will always be with you spiritually. Give yourself some time. I attended the funeral of 17-year-old male child who died in an accident recently and the homilist said, “When Hope closes the door, Faith will open it again.” Your faith will see you through.