Because We Can

Walking on the walkway approaching the entrance to the main building of the Port of Port of Spain I observed a sign which read No riding of bicycles on the walkway, and not ten seconds after I read this a black guy with a rasta hairstyle passed me riding a bicycle, smiling and busily chatting on his cell phone. This in plain view of the security guards on duty. The guards did not seem to notice.  If they did, they ignored the rule-breaking.

Making a right at the traffic light at the juncture of Long Circular Road and Ellerslie Park, I was confronted by an indian man driving a taxi on my side of the road in clear conflict of the rules of the road. When I indicated my displeasure, he called me a "white boy" in spite of the fact that my days as a boy are long behind me and cussed me out in the foulest terms.

Driving on the C-R highway going east the other day came upon a police car doing the posted 80 KPM speed limit so slowed down to match it as a chinese guy in a big SUV whipped by us both doing at least 120 KPH. No response from the police car, so I speeded up and passed him too. He did not see fit to stop and ticket me, or the chinese man for that matter.

Lined up in the bank I saw a white woman cut in the line ahead of me to join up with her friend who then proceeded to bring her to the counter to transact her (separate) business with nary a glance back at me to see how I was taking it.

I'm certain everybody who lives in Trinidad and reads this has experienced a similar event. The fact is that whatever our age or race or gender, we all seem to act like recalcitrant schoolchildren trying to put one past the teacher, except that this is not school. This is real life.

Still, this type of behavior is a common facet of our society today. It has become the status quo to do what we want when we want and everyone else be damned. As George Harrison said "I, Me Mine". If George had lived in Trinidad the title of the song could have been "Me, Me, Me and Nobody Else" driven by a soca beat with suitable dance and wine lyrics. Then we could all sing the song and pretend to care about others while actually not caring about them as we sing.

Why do we do this? The simple answer is because we can. Those responsible for upholding the rules, from the cashier at the supermarket counter enabling the person without conscience to cash out twenty-five items in the one to ten line, to the manager of the air conditioning business giving his friends favored treatment, to the CEO of the credit union participating in bobol, to the Prime Minister using and abusing his influence in getting a gun for his son, simply have no interest in enforcing the rules and in fact bend the rules to suit themselves.

Is that any way to run a country?

It comes from the top and it dribbles down and it is a formula for chaos and anarchy and the breakdown of society.

Still we do it. 

Because we can.