Dear Sir,

The life in which we are born brings with it the beginning process of education. From the moment we are born, we are of impressionable minds and easily led. Our curiosity then goes into play and it is from that point on that there is no stopping us — just about everything we see excites us.

In this new-found quest for adventure in a new world of which we had never seen or known before, the fear of danger is not an obstacle. Thus we would pick up just about anything that looks nice without question and put it into our mouths.

Sir, I say the above to say this — my grandson never got the chance to know and understand the dangers of life as I did, yet because of his new-found curiosity into wanting to discover the advantages of life, he was run over and died under the wheels of a vehicle that weighed two tonnes.

I bring up his death to point out, Sir, that I was fortunate enough to have survived past those adventure years to make it to where I am today, even though I myself nearly died in a head-on bicycle accident at the age of 16. Since which I have learnt a lot about the ins and outs, ups and downs, and the twists and turns of the experiences of life, and because of those past experiences I can almost predict just what may await me around life’s next corner.

It is stupid of one not to learn from their past, good or bad experiences, especially if one, for whatever reason, finds themselves repeating them over and over again. I would think that at age 68, I would have reached a point in life where I should have at least obtained enough knowledge and smarts to know better. If not, I truly can be seen as blindly stupid.

I have admitted before, Sir, that I never had the chance to enter into high school, yet with my limited understanding of social psychology, I have been able to sit back and observe people with those fancy university degrees use their intellectual skills to manipulate those who haven’t the slightest idea what should be or even how it should be done.

Why? Because we want to believe that those that we trust are educated and trained enough to know just what is best for us all, no matter what. There are times that some of these people don’t even listen to anyone else who may have good ideas — that person can be someone like me. So it’s not so difficult for some to believe that people like me should be following people like those above like blind sheep and not question them if there is something that is out of order and just does not seem right.

Well, that’s not me. I have been a part of many organisations that started out fighting for a good cause, but over time it just slowly dwindled and even fizzled out because people did not seek the willpower needed to fight for whatever the cause that needed to be dealt with.

Over time it became clear to me why some people joined up, and it wasn’t because they really wanted to participate in the group’s objectives. They came only to see who was a part of the group.

My little old, white Barbadian grandmother taught me from a very young boy that if I was choking in smoke, then I must find a way to get out of it or go and find what’s burning and put out the fire.

I make no apologies to anyone if it is clear to me that I am on the right side of the truth, and I am not going to allow myself to choke or burn to death in a fire deliberately started by social arsonists in with those whose intent it is to suppress, control or destroy my will. I’m not going to allow it to happen.

Sir, one of the greatest achievements of my life is accepting people of all ethnic groups as a collective part of all humanity. I don’t make it a point to hate anyone for no reason, for I see no one as a superior race. So, on the road going forward, Sir, I would follow anyone whither they are black or white if they are doing the right thing.

I have no interest in following a black or white government if they are not leading the country in the right direction, I am only interested in good government and I would not settle for anything less, no matter who is running the government.

E McNEIL STOVELL

Pembroke East