The problem of 'half-arsedness'
The nation is still absorbing (alongside the daily crime and pandemic deaths) the tragic deaths of divers Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar, Kazim Ali Jr and Yusuf Henry, who were sucked into a 30-inch underwater crude oil pipeline in Pointe-a-Pierre on February 25 while doing repairs for Paria Fuel Trading Company.
As much as we feel it for the divers and their families, we feel it for ourselves too.
Diving is dangerous, and yes, accidents do happen. The problem with leaving this here was chaos surrounding the circumstances of their deaths, the apparent absence of immediately recognisable industry standards of safety planning.
Paria had one version, LMCS engaged in the maintenance project another, and the family told divergent things. The question remains, could they have been saved? Who was responsible?
Most wrongdoings in this country are dealt with in the following way.
*Wrongdoing is ignored until something terrible or significant happens. *It is reported in the media. *Blame is politicised, thrown about like a burning football. *The opposition goes into a feeding frenzy. *An immediate fall guy is apportioned. *There is an investigation. Everyone is appeased. It's forgotten
Until. Someone else dies, or there is another calamity. Rinse and Repeat.
While the police investigation and six-month-long Commission of Enquiry investigations are underway, it could happen again somewhere else because we don't know if something went wrong, and if it did, whether it can go wrong again. And really, when last did any government take action due to a Commission of Enquiry.
These 'problems are simply being added to other 'problems' for other people to solve: like the roots of trees pushing through the foundation of the ancestral home of Nobel Laureate VS Naipaul; like Dr Eric Williams' (heritage) home being occupied by the Vatican; like the last-minute fight to save a 200-year church in Belmont; like the political power of 'community leaders' holding governments ransom; like the regular import guns and drugs (who's gonna bell that cat?); like the police who can't bring murderers to justice because there are too many guns around, lives are cheap, and witnesses terrified; like the boys by the traffic lights lauded for taking over policing for a day during a blackout and forgotten; like WASA's rotting infrastructure–somebody said every time people pay for a water truck it’s a crime and that’s correct. Unfinished work requiring civic responsibility is a crime. All these unsolved problems are crimes waiting to happen.
In case you're wondering, there's a name for this. Half-arsedness. It's a phrase coined by the (late) beautiful and brilliant senator Angela Cropper, whose entire family was murdered by an intruder (husband, mother, sister) who left the country to work for the UN and eventually died of cancer. The phrase came about like this:
In 2007 Cropper gave a speech to UWI graduates titled the seven deadly sins of Caribbean culture, which she said, 'unify us'. Half-arsedness was one of the sins Cropper came up with, saying, 'there is the Caribbean tendency to do only as little as would get us by; to go for cosmetic rather than fundamental changes; and though we make many claims, it is perhaps only in the Arts and Sports that we can be said to have manifested a culture of excellence.'
The opposite of half-arsedness is the Police Service could have taken the boys by the traffic lights in their care and supported them towards sustainable work, and Social Development Ministry could have helped. But it didn't happen.
The opposite of half-arsedness is a T&T Government standardised safety plan across the oil and gas industry.
The opposite of half-arsedness are managers who are accountable and expect it from their employees.
In case you're wondering, the other sins Cropper spoke of include Materialism: 'leading us to be disconnected from one another', Individualism: 'culture of 'me' at the expense of the 'other', Complacency: A consequence of individualism and materialism. Violence: 'the routine means for dealing with even inconsequential conflicts.
All of this feeds into half-arsedness. 'Together they 'accumulate towards an absence of feelings, value for non-material aspects of life and relationships; a disregard for moral principles; and absence of soul.'
Cropper's lecture is sobering, but I want to echo her hope that a 'small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world.' Instead of kicking the can down the road like everyone else, we can each decide not to be half-arsed at whatever we do.