The day that Trinidadians begin to take a pride in the cleanliness of their environment and surroundings, will be the day pigs fly and the day politicians are held accountable for their actions. Beyond that, I'm afraid, that day will come (the former before the latter of course), go, and still, we will be a nation where absolutely anything goes.
A most disgusting sight met me in Arima one Sunday morning: this large "puddle" of what seems like soup or channa, on the street corner next to a fire hydrant.
Last time I checked, the sky was not raining food of any kind. I shudder to think that for the residents of Arima, to walk up to a street corner and pour your unwanted food on the ground is a norm. I shudder to think that no one stopped to tell the person doing this, that it made no absolutely sense nor was it safe or sanitary.
Yes, in our "First World nation" of course we value the things that make sense, are safe and sanitary. In our "First World nation" parents and their children walk down the street and the parents gesture to the child to throw his banana peel in the street. In our "First World nation" I sit and eagerly look up each day, hoping to see the pigs in the sky. The insanitary pigs walking below are just too much to bear. Do better, Trinidad.
Lise Edwards,
via e-mail