EMBRACING THE RECESSION
PROLOGUE
Words have real power, and we who are in positions where our words touch the masses need to be cognisant of the good or bad influence we can have on our communities. I particularly address some of our talk radio personalities who see their position as just a job and not one of responsibility. On more than one occasion I heard during a broadcast, the announcer saying, “Crime will go up” as they spoke about the recession. Why should the notion of crime being the only alternative for the common man be suggested? I believe that persons with public voices should speak in terms of enlightenment and not as though they are a part of the grunt.
MOTHER NECESSITY
A boss once told me, “If you get oranges, make orange juice. If you get lemons, make lemon juice,” suggesting making do with whatever hand fate deals you. I wish to expand – “Save the orange rind and make orange peel tea,” to highlight that, with some imagination, we can create much more than what is evident. Imagination is what we need at this time of recession.
A young relative of mine graduated from UWI some years ago and, like several graduates in recent time, has not been able to secure a permanent job in their field of study. This situation has caused my relative to rethink her career plan and started her own endeavor, based on the knowledge gained from her studies. Difficulty made this relative an entrepreneur.
I studied Theatre Arts at UWI during the early 90’s. I thought the programme was quite a good one as well as the Music programme which was introduced around that time. I believed that there would be a wave of young, talented graduates transforming the theatre and music landscape of Trinidad and Tobago. Over this period, I saw few university “offspring” venturing boldly into the world. The majority went into the teaching field or secured employment in the public service in an office job. I felt this a sad outcome of unrealised potential.
The aim of the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business is to shape innovative thinkers who would take Trinidad and Tobago into the future with their awakened inventiveness. I may be unaware, but I cannot recall seeing any significant homegrown innovation. What I have seen are people proud to place “MBA” behind their names then go into the existing corporate machinery with the only advancement being their salaries.
Necessity is the mother of invention. The Cubans have proven this. Many of our people are interested in security of a job and lack that spirit of bravery to be industrious, to make something out of very little (or even nothing). This recessionary period could be a watershed moment for us. We are a people who have made a world-recognised musical instrument from discarded oil drums which came out of a need where there was an absence.
To reiterate, our time of present economic discomfort is just what we need to spark the creative spirit within all of us. This could be the juncture where, through invention, we finally diversify our economy. So instead of thinking of where to get a job or that work is difficult to find, we should change the mindset to focus on what our individual talents are and what does the market need that no-one has as yet tapped into.
EPILOGUE
Quite a few of the scientists at NASA during the 80’s and 90’s (and maybe still today) said that after they saw the 1960’s science fiction movie “2001: a Space Odyssey” and television shows “Star Trek” and “Lost in Space” of the same era, their interest in science was sparked. This shows the power that the media can have on the mind. Our media personnel should rethink their agenda and, while recognising our economic challenges, plant seeds of inventiveness into the psyche of our nationals. Instead of inspiring “grabbers”, they should motivate thinkers so that we too may have pioneers as Jack Ma (Alibaba), Elon Musk (Space x), Branson (Virgin), Steve Job (apple) and the like.
Let us embrace the recession and begin to invent.
