St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves Raps Caribbean Lifestyle

USC Graduation 2013

"St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has cited the “leisure and pleasure” way of life as one of the “anti-social” trends developing in the Caribbean in the past half-century.

He said while the region has made significant material and technological progress over the last 49 years “there have sadly been some troubling anti-social trends”. 

These included: wanton violence against others in our communities; a coarsening of language and conduct; falsehoods as the currency of exchanges between people; and an over-emphasis on “leisure, pleasure and nice time”.

“No government, no election manifesto, no bundle of political promises could move a country forward if we do not emphasise the progressive essence of hard, smart, disciplined, productive work,” he stressed.

Gonsalves made the comments while delivering the commencement address at the 80th graduation of the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC) held on Sunday at the University of Trinidad and Tobago O’Meara campus."  (Source: Trinidad Express)

Whereas we can find some agreement with the Prime Minister's concern, the critical question we need to ask ourselves is what role, if any, our reliance as a region on a tourism-based economy with its inherent emphasis on ease and entertainment has helped to foster and/or engender the leisure/pleasure lifestyle.  "Monkey see - monkey do" goes the old adage, and for at least a generation or two since independence in the Caribbean precious little else has been modelled other than leisure and pleasure.  We do not necessarily see the hard work and sacrifice that permits the week or two of lounging on the beach and wining, dining and dancing into the night.  Consequently, it is quite possible that unintentionally there exists within our region a disconnect in the association of work and pleasure.  How to fix that should be an uppermost priority going forward.