Will we fire Santa too?

THE EDITOR: It never ceases to amaze me, the manner in which my fellow Trinidadians choose to assign blame. They seem to have absolutely no concept of chain of command or of individual responsibility. Follow me on this. A police constable is caught taking a bribe or mistreating a prisoner and my fellow Trinis say: “Fire the chief of police!” Or better “Still, get rid of the Minister of National Security! The whole police force is tainted!”

An unruly, recalcitrant child, a product of an obviously dysfunctional home refuses to study and constantly disrupts his or her classes at school. He or she is disciplined by the teacher. Result? A group of parents organises a march to the school to demand the removal of the principal... or better yet, replace the Minister of Education. How dare they discipline our children! A hospital nurse neglects to change a patient’s bandage or remove his or her bed-pan. What’s the cry? You guessed it. The doctors are uncaring! The Minister of Health is derelict in his duty. A minister of government is found to be guilty of some form of malfeasance, and here go my fellow trinis again: “The Prime Minister is to blame!” Time for a change of party! And so it goes, on and on.

We no longer seem willing to place the blame with the accountable individual. Come on people, how else can we help and teach and achieve a better sense of responsibility: As for me, I am fervently praying that every child in Trinidad and Tobago receive a gift for Christmas coming, because if not, it is quite possible that come January, Rudolph of the red nose and his boss of the red suit will both be checking the employment section in this paper. Just don’t blame me.

TYRONE EVANS
Port-of-Spain