Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 09/Sep 07:40

Why we dread Independence Day

Debbie Jacob EVERY Independence Day brings the same mixed bag of feelings, a morning with the soaring high and pride of a parade that displays some semblance of order in this disorganised country and a stressful night of fireworks that angers and frustrates many of us. Independence Day is the perfect metaphor for this country: all show and a lot of noise to cover pressing problems: poverty, crime, inflation, divisiveness, inconsideration and wastefulness. It’s gloss and a distraction from our choking economy. As anticipation grows for the fireworks display in the Savannah, I hide in my study and sit in a Zero Gravity chair beside my retired, blind Belgian Malinois police dog, Hart, who is dozing next to me. I have drugged him with the maximum amount of Gravol for his weight, hoping he can sleep through the noise that terrifies him. Without Gravol he would pant and pace. There are few things more heart-wrenching than watching a blind dog cope with fireworks. When the noise begins, he lifts his head and pants. He’s too weak and tired to stand up. I rest my hand on his back and whisper, “I’m sorry. You deserve more consideration than this.” I have apologised to dogs before. Fireworks agitated Rambo and Reyne. All animals, elderly and sick people deserve better than this terrifying noise that rattles windows. I think of the poor animals in the zoo alone and in terror. Somewhere I read the measure of a country is how it treats its most vulnerable people and its animals. That leaves us in a state of total failure – a state that recognises the significance of symbolism and sends the wrong signals nevertheless. This is a particularly difficult year to face fireworks. Our foreign reserves are low, but we have money to buy fireworks that symbolise our wastefulness. We are overtaxed yet Government decides to implement a property tax that has left most of us in a state of confusion and despair. Maybe the Government could just stop wasting money instead of strangling us to death with debt. Huge government buildings pop up everywhere. Why does the Ministry of Health need such a big building off of the Savannah? Is there an office in that building that can enhance the ministry’s efficiency or schedule operations and appointments in a timely manner? But we continue to build these monstrosities. The Caroni Canine Police Section has an administrative building that cost millions of dollars to construct. It was built on a flood plain and never used because of possible danger from electrical issues. I have walked through that building and heard my own hollow voice ask, “Why?” Crime continues to spiral out of control. We want to believe the Government cares about crime, but how can we expect criminals to respect us, the law and this country when laws in place for noise pollution and animal abuse are flagrantly violated? This is how I view fireworks. Criminals from the culture of poverty get a clear message about the culture of privilege. Independence Day is a symbolic show of inconsideration and nonchalance. We marvel at that parade because everything looks neat. There’s order and organisation, people conforming and marching in straight lines. They look good and official. There’s teamwork. For a delirious moment, we feel this is us, but it’s only an apparition, obliterated soon enough by evening fireworks, a colourful symbolic explosion of our hopes and dreams. And so I sit through another Independence Day fireworks, my hand resting on Hart, apologising for a nation that can’t muster the strength to do the right thing and ban this noise pollution. I apologise for a nation committed to wasting money and setting the wrong example; then wallowing in pitiful self-righteousness as it complains about the state of this country. I sit there, with my hand on a dog who has served this country and done more for this place than most people, and I feel shame we can act this way. Every year I hope someone in government will listen to reasoning and have the sense to say, “We are a country with big problems and we need a dose of reality – not frivolity. All Independence Day does is reinforce the reality of how divided we are. Get serious. Do something meaningful. Stop wasting money. Be empathetic. Show you care. That would show independence. Yes, we need symbols. We need hope too. Every Independence Day I’m left with the gnawing feeling that we have to dig deeper to find a sense of meaning in a place that marches on with no sense of direction. The post Why we dread Independence Day appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.