Don't play with it

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Does anyone else hate the new bus system at school... so that the campus is a walking campus?

I was traipsing all over town and by the time I got to Grand Anse I was reluctant to wait on one of those unpredictable buses. I hate SGU's new bus system. I'm extremely reluctant to be walking up and down a hill in the hot sun... much less running behind these "pick up and drop off" buses. I'm almost certain that most existing "walking campuses" are on flat territory. Hello? Hills are bad for the knees?

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So I nearly missed my Politics class today due to lateness - again. But I'm surely glad I didn't.

Today we dealt with a statement made by the President of Trinidad and Tobago that kinda struck home something that I was musing over myself in a different situation. The class discussion basically helped to shape exactly what was the underlying principle being violated.

Apparently the President, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, said “We will have to look at ways in which we would be able to assist. But you would recall my comments earlier this year, when I said there must some way in which Trinidad and Tobago would also benefit.” In the wake of the current Hurricane Tomas that did some damage to other Caribbean territories. As usual, I'm always late with news. My Prof. is St. Lucian so he was relating the events on what he's heard about the state of affairs over there, the wellbeing of his family, etc. It was a retrospective moment I believe for all of us in the class that endured Ivan in 2004.

Naturally, the territories want some assistance. People lost lives. Homes are destroyed. It was a traumatic experience. And the President is making a statement about doing a favour to get a favour.

True, what she is saying is not a lie. No one is contending a lack of truth in her words. Obviously, if you're going to help another country you're going to try to help yourself as well. You want both parties to benefit from the arrangement... Nothing is for nothing these days right? Hand wash hand make hand come clean? But is it really necessary to be that frank about it? That insensitive?

I was telling a couple friends a few weeks back that were dealing with personal issues within the group that they were miscommunicating. The words they were choosing were the truth but were delivering results whereby the other parties were taking offense and becoming defensive and further creating a rift.

I always say there is more than one way to say the same thing and get your message across without starting a war. One must learn to manage your mouth and not run away with the first impulses that tickle your throat to be uttered. While I haven't mastered the art of choosing my words carefully, in fact I have become rather rusty... It is the one major thing I took from my 2 year of Law at college - choose your words carefully. Take a moment, think, and then speak. And when you do speak, do so in a manner that's diplomatic at its worst but clear in it's meaning at its best.

And I'm sure we've all been in situations whereby the argument moves from the content and actual issues to the phrasing of how the issues were being delivered or addressed.

Now the consensus of the classroom from the discussion of the students was that placed in that situation, were any one of us St. Vincent or St. Lucia, due to the nature of the offer we would refuse it. Especially today with all of these efforts and talks about regional Caribbean integration and we're all one family - yet when disaster strikes there's commentary about seeking personal interests?

Imagine though the same message was framed differently... Let's say she said instead "In the wake of the devastation of the Hurricane, as part of the Caribbean Community, Trinidad and Tobago will naturally be willing to administer any possible aid within our means to our fellow territories in a many that would be beneficial to all of us."

Same underlying message - different phrasing. Who could vex wit da? Even if yuh vex, yuh won't be so vex to not accept the help begrugingly self.

Another quote that my Prof. had referenced was a quote by a Republican who said that they would do everything in their power to make sure that Obama is a "one-term President."

Again... again... mismanagement of your words. One speaks too loosely. Even if that's ultimately your intentions, the country doesn't need to know that. Your purpose is not even about supporting policies good for the country, it is about seeking party interests entirely?

To coin a quote my Prof. said that I really liked (mostly because of the alliteration is it?) was that "We need to rise above these petty party partisan politics and think about the country especially in these economic times where people are suffering."

That concludes my early evening rant.

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Now that I'm here baby, show me a good time.
Shelli out.