The Last Word

Who is it all for?

by Barrie Quappe
Talk show host for "Newstalk", Rooster 101.9 FM

Friday, December 12, 2003

Cayman is facing a new frontier. No longer a quiet tropical island but a bustling colony of activity that has captured world attention and remarkable accomplishment for a relatively small land mass in the Caribbean. 

A lot to be proud of to be sure, but who's it all for from here on out? 

In response to one of these columns a reader wrote to me on how they were seeing our current state of affairs: "Traffic jams, crowded schools, concrete everywhere, depleted ocean-life, dilution of culture, stranger in your own country, etc," a laundry list of concerns expressed regularly in conversation and on the media. 

Local businessman Billy Adam has been touting the "who are we developing for?" question for a long time and he has a point. Where are we going? 

Vision 2008 looked at this in an intensive community involved exercise but many of the ideas out of that are sitting on a shelf. The evidence is in the way many of us feel. Yes, feel. 

Society doesn't like to talk about feelings but when feelings are kept within the energy will come out eventually and not necessarily in a productive manner.

Take the employer/employee relationship and how it has changed over this country's history. It was the hard work of the many, not the few or the business owners who created the success this country now enjoys. 

Some employers acknowledged that and rewarded their labour while others selfishly did not. The 'did-nots' have served as a catalyst for intervention on a Government level that in turn bites the hands that feed, and the ones that need to be fed, get fed up! Vicious cycle.

So where to from here? Some are of the view that the way the Government makes money is so integrally tied to continued development that the current pro-development path is a given. Not unlike a runaway train that cannot be stopped. 

Others feel that if they speak out, they will be ostracised at work, in their communities and even in their own families. This is not healthy. I for one believe in the power of people. 

If you don't know where this country is going and you give a rip then get involved! The Government is only doing what it thinks is best and if you don't agree then you need to communicate that to it, not once, not twice but regularly and persistently in a professional manner. Only efforts such as these will create positive change.

You can make a difference, you can be heard in a productive way, but the road is not easy. It does not take one call but long-term clear expressions and clarity for the purpose of the issues and not for self-aggrandisement. 

It is time for fresh blood, so to speak, to take up the mantle of caring for the community, instead of the whining and looking to Government to solve everything. 

That is not what built this country and the attitude that everything must be done for you is exactly what will tear this country apart and not continue its success in a fresh healthy direction guided by the people.

Contact Barrie Quappe “Newstalk” radio show, Rooster 101.9FM. E-mail barriequappe@hurleysgroup.com  

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