In my beautiful country of Trinidad & Tobago, our Prime Minister, Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar has felt the need to announce a State of Emergency after a recent one-day surge in killings.
What? Are you shocked? How could this beautiful tropical island have a -gulp- crime rate? Apparently just about everywhere does. And while our murder toll is always shameful to look at (I for one have refused to check it since I came back last year), not looking doesn't stop it from existing.
On that point, I think that's exactly what the previous government was doing. I've been a newshound for as long as I can remember, and reading and watching the news got me so depressed I just stopped a while back. Sure, I try to skim through a newspaper or pay attention to some pressing matters here and there, but when every front page and the first God-knows-how-many pages are about murder, kidnapping, rape, abuse, and criminals either being released or just being left alone, I didn't see a point in depressing myself further.
So now this PM looks at the crime rate and acknowledges the severity of it, and plans to fix it. When there's a shoot-out of nowhere, in a parlor (like a bodega but way smaller and a bit of everything, especially candy), that had innocent civilians (including women and children) diving for cover, Madam PM decides we need a limited state of emergency. I heard about this on Sunday, and it was announced it would go into effect Sunday night. The night before I began my week-long, all day training halfway across the country. Yippee.
So on Monday morning, when I reluctantly dragged my butt out of bed at 5AM after a couple hours of tossing and turning, I forced my eyes open, willed motion sickness to disappear, and sat through an entire day of lecturing and fighting the urge to collapse, my colleagues laughed and joked about not being able to go drinking late or partying, etc. So I forced my eyes open, told my body to sit on the chair, not slump to the ground, and stared at them with my dazed non-drinker/non-partier eyes. That's what they were concerned about?
Well when I got home and crumpled myself into a ball on the couch with my doggies, I could have cared less about any damned curfew (oh yeah, there's a curfew from 9PM to 5AM in the hotspot areas). Then this morning, during our test (I wrote and finished my test. I handed up my test. And then my presenter comes over and whispers how sorry she is because I wrote Wednesday's test, not Tuesday's test, and if I would start on Tuesday's test right away while we still had time. And then she laughed because it was so funny. Ha. Ha. Ha.), there were complaints from some of these people about how stressed they were thinking about the curfew and thus could not focus on their test. Is this the part where I was supposed to burst out laughing?
Back to the point. So my concerned colleagues and I finished our test, sat through our mandatory training for today, and finally left. We finished early. Yippee! (I mean it this time)
However, Hubby took his time leaving home because we were supposed to finish around 4PM or afterwards. Not 3PM. So I sat my excited behind down and waited for an hour. Well, it wasn't that dull. I waited while talking to Hubby on the phone, telling me that he was less than 5 minutes away, but stuck in standstill traffic that did. not. move. for half an hour. Today has redefined torture. I could swear it. And I did swear. A lot. But very quietly, so the security guards would still think I was a nice, quiet, young lady.
Back to the point. So on our drive home, just minutes before we got back on the highway, there was an almost sort of accident. A cement mixer truck thing was going at full speed just before a corner and almost drove straight across the road, where he would have crossed his lane, toppled over, and killed at least one person as he skivvied across the opposite lane. Guess why it wasn't that bad? *prepare for history lesson*
Once upon a time, not very long ago, (like some months ago) Madam PM had these weird things put up along the sides of some highways. It was a lengthy process, and to this day, not all of our highways were covered, but I didn't see the sense in it. The barriers looked weak, and if a vehicle were to pull too quickly and land there, wouldn't it cause the vehicles behind them to ram into them, them creating a bigger mess?
Those were the theories I was given, and I approvingly nodded at the sense it made to someone like me who knows nothing about this. Until today. Today this girl is in the know. *snaps fingers with attitude*
That truck was being held at an angle by the barriers. At the angle it was stopped, if it had kept going, it would have toppled over and killed at least one person, started another rounds of standstill traffic, and deal a lot of other damage.To top that of, while the barriers were holding this massive truck, Hubby and I were amazed to see that the barriers were bent, but had not broken. The barriers were still holding the majority of the truck's weight and had actually taken the full impact of what could have been a horribly nasty crash. Yay PM! (I mean it here too)
And today there's word that the State of Emergency may go on for 6 months, and it may become fully national, and it isn't "limited" and who knows what else. Oh, there was also big news about police shooting two gunmen in the middle of a robbery (announced dead as they succumbed to their wounds) and captured a third. All of the thieves were held with massive amounts of ammunition, more advanced than what the police carry actually. What do the people of this tropical paradise do?
COMPLAIN.
I mean, sure I'm complaining about being on my feet/@$$ from 5AM- after 6PM and training feels like high school (I was the girl in the corner more than half the school didn't know existed), but I think this SOE is a really good thing!
I'd like to punch the haters in the nose (for lack of a better word). The PM is actually doing something! The police had a victory!
I know they're supposed to protect us anyway. But when they go into the dangerous areas and are stoned and assaulted just for going there, nobody defends them, and nobody says anything then. When they're dying on the field because if they shoot first the public condemns them, nobody opens their mouth then. When they ask the drunk driver to pull over for a simple breathalyzer and are threatened and/or receive physical harm, nobody says anything then.
Yes, I know there are rogue cops and "inside men/women". But what about the decent guys? It's the public's own damned fault! Something is being done about it, obviously it seems to be getting some good results, sit your @$$3$ down and let the PM and police force do what they can. If you think you can do better, then you try to top her education and wisdom and grow the cajones to apply for, and succeed at her job.
Don't just sit around and tell everyone to hate the PM or the police. If you're one of the people who curses up the police officer who pulls you over for speeding or tries to bluff your way out of a ticket, you're not exactly an example of a prime citizen. No, I'm not saying I am either.
We're all human. Sometimes you need to give and take a little. A lot of the people that are complaining now had nothing to say when their party was in power. The PM is not only looking out for the best interest of the country, she's trying to clean up the mess the last political group left behind, and furthermore, she's also fighting off the proverbial dogs the previous party are constantly setting on her.
The last party had more than enough time to get their act together and their seer woman and secret spies didn't do much. From where I'm standing, Kamla has done more than they even promised they would try to do. Of course, she may not get everything done, or she may not get everything done they way she wanted it to. She's human, and life happens. Change is one of few constants in life that you have to let happen before you do anything about.
I think I've made my point. If not, well...leave the damned woman alone and I support the SOE. And I am beyond exhausted and I have homework to finish, clothes to iron, and sleep to steal before sunrise. Goodnight and goodbye folks. Hmmph!
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