Monday, 5 August 2013

The Cause of the Thirst for Change

I remember sitting in a theology class when I was preparing to be a preacher, listening to a lecture by one of the more humble of Christian gentlemen I have ever encountered in my life, a balding Barbadian man by the named Hamilton Taitt. He talked enthusiastically in his unique style about "The uncaused cause." Taitt told of the only being in the universe his faith convinced him did not have a cause. Nothing cause this being he spoke of to be here. Nothing created it. Everything else is caused.
 I also remember the story of a salesman who returned to his company after a long, hard day in the field without having snagged a single sale. When questioned by his boss about his method, his response was: "Well, boss, you can take a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink."
 To which his boss replied, "Well, Sir, your job is not to make the horse drink, your job is to make him thirsty."
 When we have a nation in which the majority of people appear to be thirsty for change of government, what is the cause of it?
 People are woefully aware that governments make mistakes, especially in poor countries where investors see Eldorado which the natives are oblivious to, and so these investors arrive in rented jets, boasting the possession of billions for investment; and we simply do not have the means to thoroughly investigate such claims. When the project collapses we are left holding the bag with a drooling drag on our features.
 Poverty could and sometimes do cause such disappointing economic tailspins, but these are often not at the core of what brings about the thirst for change. It is easy to colorfully explain away these types of big deals gone wrong as the average citizen will never fully be able to understand.
 It is the civil servant behind the desk who treats ordinary citizens as though they are begging for full attention, that causes the thirst for change.
 It is the deliberate, knowingly  un-kept and unfulfilled promises to people whose names have been "on file" for government assistance since their now thirteen year old son or daughter was two years old, that cause the thirst for change.
 It is the clerk who turns her back and walks away while being complained to about the inordinately long time it is taking to  process a simple legal document, sometimes requiring only a signature.
 It is the servants of government who think that because you are "rude" to them, they are supposed to be "rude" right back to you, that causes the thirst for change.
 It is the number of times the telephone rings before somebody eventually answers as though they were  expecting an idiot at the other end of the telephone line.
 It is the lack of manners and respect from  people who are supposed to make governments work, that cause the thirst for change.
 It is  people who do not do what they are supposed to do, and are not there when they are supposed to be, these are the ones who cause the thirst for change, often because they have become so complacent in knowing that even if there were complaints about their lack of professionalism,absolutely nothing is going to happen to them.
 It is then people begin to feel that perhaps it is time for a fresh glass of water.

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