At the conclusion of my five-part series on “Nationality: fact or fiction?”, which concluded on October 6, 2022, six cornerstones were offered upon which Trinidad and Tobago would turn on the trajectory to nationhood.
They were:
1. Interracial solidarity: living together in unity and harmony;
2. An appropriate industrial relations environment: a culture of non-confrontational employee/employer interaction;
3. Best-in-class productivity: the highest levels of total factor productivity among comparative countries worldwide;
4. Exemplary standards of work ethics: exceptional workplace decorum, protocols and practices;
5. Economic care: living within our means; AND
6. A law-abiding society: prominence among the most crime-free nations worldwide.
Each calls for shared fundamental cultural paradigm shifts. Consequently, no apprehension should be entertained to unite around these cornerstones as together they embody the National Purpose.
I had argued that the descendants had produced a new kind of human being: the young who responded to new modes of interaction and interface. They are the future. Without their steadfast involvement, there can be no sustainable path to the Nation. They bring to the table perspectives that appeal to their different thought processes, lifestyles, and aspirations. They should be free to share their views and ideas in establishing the Cornerstones and creating that productive and law-abiding human being by which all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago can instinctively and proudly distinguish themselves. .
In my submission of Thursday, October 27, it was pointed out that successive official crime plans had failed, not because they were not well-intentioned, but because they were vindictive and vindictive in nature. They lacked empathy, compassion and reconciliation, not driven by partnership with citizens under any structured framework, nor by any philosophical basis of nation-building. I pointed out that the soul of the nation was crying out for a renaissance that originated from a neutral domestic intervention in the alleviation of crime, which I remain convinced is unconsciously suffocating somewhere in the souls of our young, eager citizens. on stage if only we were generous enough to give them the opening to move forward.
The concept of renaissance of which I speak has its genesis in the era in which humanity sought to lead humanity out of the dark ages into a new and enlightened civilization: “a defining intellectual movement based on the belief that literary works offered , scientific and philosophical. the best guides for learning and living”. The records show that “the 19th century coined the term ‘humanism,’ a component of which included ‘studies of grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy based on the study of ancient standard authors.'” This is the definition of famously introduced in 1945 by the eminent historian Paul Oscar Kristeller and now widely accepted. The Renaissance also promoted the good qualities that made men and women human.”
In my previous submission, I volunteered to lay out a FRESH approach to dealing with the wave of crime and lawlessness traumatizing the nation: one that differs, fundamentally, from what had been the core of the many crime plans that, fortunately bad, have all failed to deliver the expected results.
The approach derives from the lessons learned from the renaissance, in this case, optimizing the exemplary creative cultural and artistic genius with which our young citizens are endowed in abundance. It specifically aims to maximize that great intelligence potential of our nation’s youth. It is intentionally non-violent in nature and is built around four main pillars: Participation, Inclusion, Recognition and Valuation.
The anti-violence approach has been influenced by the principles strongly espoused by Martin Luther King Jnr, in which he advocated that “the aim of non-violence is always to win the friendship and understanding of the alleged offender, not their humiliation or personal defeat. It must be done to ultimately facilitate the process of reconciliation, in which the offender must be seen not so much as a bad person, but as a symbol of a much larger systemic evil of which they are also victims. We must direct our efforts to that greater evil, which is harming us all, rather than to the offender”.
Therefore, these four pillars make the most of the power of inclusion—to encourage our youth to engage in thought processes that would lead them to reach higher ground: exploring sustainable creative solutions to social, economic, political challenges and cultural that foster unconscious disregard for law and order.
It’s one thing to bemoan and condemn the “stink and duty” or “instant gratification” mindset characterizations attributed to our younger generation, but to do so without creating meaningful alternatives for engaging them in the moral development of enrichment, raising and raising the mindset is ridiculous and ignorant.
Next Thursday: Full details of optimizing our youthful intellect to follow.
— Author Roy Mitchell is former advisor and special coordinator, National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC).
