Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better. – Sydney J. Harris
IF WE WERE to deconstruct Mr Harris’ assertion to the molecular level, it is probable that many may agree that its origins could in fact be Barbadian. This is who we really are as a people, and while we procrastinate and discuss critical issues in our countless forums, the econometrics of our country continue to change at a tremendous rate.
Across the economies of the world it is not business as usual and while we hold strain, it would appear that our Caribbean brothers and sisters are embracing a strategy of aggressive competitiveness.
Will we ever wake from this stupor? We will ever stop wallowing in self-pity because we believe that our national icons are being torn from our skin and bones?
I prefer to think that our national icons are our people, our resilience, our determination, our nobility, our love for peace. These cannot be traded on the stock market.
Perhaps the ongoing acquisition of the BHL Group of Companies should serve as an acute wake-up call and remind us that instead of bickering about the tactics of business, we should move swiftly to harness our collective ingenuity, assess our strengths, embrace our weaknesses, change our systems, change the way we do business and become a nation of competiveness.
According to Barack Obama, “change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek”.
– Sean St Clair Fields