Doing Nothing is not an Option

Our capacity to identify problems seems to be inversely proportional to finding solutions. Newspaper articles are replete with wailings and lamentations and people crying out as though we were a people adrift among the sand dunes of the desert in the times of the Pharos. We seem to be a helpless people caught in the turbulence of global financial crisis, rising energy cost and natural disasters.

Thus it was most refreshing to read this past week of the prompt and decisive action taken by Mr. Kirk Weeks in extinguishing a fire with the assistance of an unnamed taxi driver. He saw the fire soon after it started in a closed shop, broke in and extinguished it. End of story.

Had he been a different person he could have called the fire service and waited for them to arrive by which time the flames could well have taken hold and destroyed a major portion of the building if not all of it. Were he less decisive than that he might have called the owner to open the shop so that they could attempt to fight the fire by which time other buildings in the area would be aflame. Then again, if he were timorous beyond all belief, he could have ignored the whole thing hoping that the fire would extinguish itself and justify his actions by saying it was not his fault.

As it turned out Mr. Weeks is a true Barbadian hero who saw the problem, knew the solution and took direct and prompt action. Good for him.

Now if we could duplicate some of the problem solving and decisive action that was on display in Prince William & Henry Street in the halls of government and commerce, we would restore a national sense of purpose and confidence that is has been lost these past few years.

There is a sense of drift and inaction as we continue to grapple with a changing world, rising prices and increased security threats. There is a lack of leadership and direction with policy decisions revolving around a hope that things will get better. Well I hope so too but the Lord helps those who helps themselves and we better had get on with the job of helping ourselves.

This coming week we will be presented with the Estimates of Expenditure of government and the following debate will be of critical importance. It should illuminate the thinking of both government and the opposition on the way forward for our country in what has become our most challenging time since independence.

We all know, for example, that the hospitality industry is going through a period of great stress. What we need to know is what we are going to do about it to make fundamental improvements to make Barbados a more attractive destination delivering value for money and improving our level of repeat business. Repeating solutions that have yielded poor results in the past is an exercise in stupidity and certain to fail. What we need is some creative thinking to expand the knowledge based experience of our visitors that capitalizes on the cultural, historical and family linkages that exist between Barbados and our major tourism markets. We have much good to build on and we should do so.

Phillip.goddard@braggadax.com