The Broken Windows Theory teaches a simple but powerful lesson: visible neglect invites further neglect.
It is also important that we speak with compassion. Many of the men and women who once maintained our parks, roadways, and public spaces are no longer employed. They are fathers, mothers, providers, citizens who laboured with dignity, often in the heat and rain, keeping our surroundings clean and presentable. Their loss of employment is not just an administrative adjustment; it is a human hardship. We empathise with their uncertainty, their frustration, and the burden this places on their families. This reality must never be dismissed or minimised.
At the same time, empathy must not give way to paralysis. While we continue to advocate for fair employment, sustainable public services, and humane policy decisions, our collective responsibility to the nation remains. Civic duty does not expire when systems fail. The environment still needs care. Our communities still deserve dignity. In moments like these, citizenship calls us to step forward rather than step back, not to replace the State, but to preserve standards until stability returns.
A single broken window left unrepaired soon signals that no one cares, and before long, vandalism, disorder, and decay follow. The same principle applies not only to crime, but to our environment. In Trinidad and Tobago today, the broken windows are not always shattered panes of glass. They are overgrown grass, abandoned recreation grounds, littered roadways, clogged drains, and parks slowly disappearing beneath bush and neglect.
Overgrown grass is not merely an aesthetic problem. It is a message. It quietly communicates abandonment, indifference, and a lowering of standards. When public spaces are left unattended, they become magnets for dumping, criminal activity, rodents, mosquitoes, and eventually fear. Communities retreat indoors. Pride erodes. Standards fall. What begins as environmental neglect soon becomes social disorder.
Across Trinidad and Tobago, many of our parks and recreation grounds, once the heartbeat of community life, are now choked with bush. Playgrounds sit unused, football fields are swallowed by grass, and parks, benches and swings are barely visible. The laughter of children has been replaced by silence and the buzzing of insects. The reality is uncomfortable, but it must be confronted, we have allowed neglect to become normal.
Yes, the State has reduced or stopped certain services. Budgets are tight. Priorities have shifted. But national responsibility does not end where government service stops. Citizenship does not come with a clause that says, only care when the State does. A society that waits solely on government to do everything will eventually lose everything.
Environmental decay reflects something deeper, a crisis of attitude and ownership. When drains are blocked with garbage, it is not the State that threw the plastic bottle. When a recreation ground becomes a dumping site, it is not policy that dumped the mattress. When bush takes over a park, it is not only a failure of maintenance; it is a failure of collective conscience.
This New Year presents us with an opportunity for a reset, not just of resolutions, but of responsibility. If we desire safer communities, healthier families, and a more disciplined society, it must begin with how we treat our environment. Clean, cared-for spaces create order. Order creates pride. Pride promotes respect. Respect discourages disorder.
The same principles used in crime prevention apply here. High visibility matters. Presence matters. Maintenance matters. When grass is cut, lights are working, and spaces are clean, the message is clear, this place is cared for. Criminals, vandals, and dumpers thrive where neglect reigns. They retreat where standards are enforced, even informal standards maintained by citizens themselves.
Environmental beautification is not cosmetic. It is preventative. It improves mental health, encourages physical activity, strengthens community bonds, and reinforces shared values. Children who grow up in clean, cared-for spaces learn responsibility by observation. Communities that maintain their surroundings send a powerful message to the next generation: we care about where we live, and we care about each other.
As we enter this new year, the question is not what the State should do alone, but what we as citizens must reclaim. A concern. A conscience. A willingness to act, even in small ways. Cutting grass around your home. Organising a community clean-up. Adopting a nearby park or recreation ground. Speaking up when illegal dumping occurs. Teaching children to respect public spaces. These acts may seem small, but they are not insignificant. They are the opposite of broken windows.
Change does not always begin with sweeping policy reforms. Sometimes it begins with a broom, a cutlass, a garbage bag, and a renewed sense of ownership. When citizens take responsibility, governments are encouraged, not excused. Partnership replaces dependency. Pride replaces apathy.
Trinidad and Tobago has always been rich in natural beauty, from our hills and forests to our beaches and savannahs. But beauty must be maintained, not merely admired. Stewardship is an obligation, not an option. The environment we neglect today is the inheritance we pass on tomorrow.
Let this New Year mark a change in attitude. Let us reject the culture of “somebody else will do it.” Let us restore dignity to our spaces and discipline to our habits. Let us understand that overgrown grass is not harmless, and neglect is never neutral.
Fix the broken windows. Cut the overgrown grass. Reclaim the parks. Restore pride. When we care for our environment, we care for ourselves and in doing so, we begin to rebuild the nation from the ground up.
