The Power of Words

By anthony sylvestre

Despite his eloquence, his great facility with words and being a learned man, Dean Barrow obviously doesn’t know the power of words. Can’t be!

How can anyone (let alone the Prime Minister of a country) who knows the power of words, stand up in the country’s national assembly and refer to another member (a former Prime Minister at that) as a jackass and yet another member as a fool? And when he is corrected by the Speaker, he tries to justify his vulgarity by saying that the word “jackass” is in the dictionary?

Barrow and his gang of Cabinet members seem to have this same problem with words though: recall “Son of a B—-“  Finnegan, “artificial” Sedi,  “ignorant” Patrick, now “jackass” Dean. But that is no excuse for the downright disrespectful and disgraceful behaviour of the Prime Minister of the country in the House on Monday. How is it that the man who controls all the levers in the country cannot control his emotions, his rage, his temper tantrums? Can react so unrestrained, angrily, facey and disrespectful merely because he was being asked a question? It is frightening.

It is frightening indeed because as you look around in our society trying to understand this crime wave in our country, you notice the same characteristics being displayed by the criminals who are unleashing anarchy in the streets as those Barrow displayed in the House: anger, rage, faceyness, un-restraint. Wittingly or unwittingly, Barrow with his behaviour in the House on Monday encourages this pervasive culture of disrespect and ‘badmanism’ that is wrecking our nation.

Barrow forgets Rudyard Kipling’s truism, that “words, are of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind”. We all know too well that when drugs are abused or misused, this can be destructive to society at large. Many of the killings in our country over the years, for instance, have been linked to the drug trade. So too, words when used to hurl insult and disrespect at others, have a debilitating effect on society. This certainly is more so when they fall from the lips of the leader of the country. As the writer Nan S. Russell has said, “poorly chosen words can kill enthusiasm, impact self esteem, lower expectations and hold people back. Well chosen words can motivate, offer hope, create vision, impact thinking and alter results.”

In times like these, when Belizeans are required to make great personal sacrifices because of the Barrow budget which the Amandala newspaper characterized as one of “more taxes, more pain”, the Prime Minister is required to inspire and motivate. In times like these, the Prime Minister is required to inveigle the confidence in the Belizean populace that the sacrifices that we are compelled to make, will be worth the while.  In times like these, he is required to impact the self esteem of Belizeans. In times like these, the Prime Minister is required to offer hope and create a vision for Belize and act on that vision. In times like these, the Prime Minister is required to stimulate imagination as we grapple with how to cut costs and expenses in our daily lives. These are all things the Prime Minister can do with the use of well chosen words. This is the time for leaders like a JFK and Fidel Castro.

This is not the time in our history for us to have a quarrelsome Prime Minister. This is not the time and the National Assembly certainly is not the place, for the Prime Minister to screw up his face and hurl derogatory insults at another Belizean. This is not the time for an iron fist dictator. This is not the time for the Idi Amins or the Kim Jong ils. Such leaders will get no results in times like these in Belize.  Saddled with an already sky rocket cost of living, and soon to be further saddled with more taxes and pain, the people have nothing to lose and so threats and insults will move no one. That will only further demoralize us.

Cordel Hyde reminded Patrick Faber in a previous House meeting that he is not God. Barrow too needs to be reminded of this fact.

He needs to remember too the Oath of Office he took upon becoming Prime Minister, “to conscientiously, impartially and to the best of his ability discharge his duties as Prime Minister and to do right to all manner of people without fear or [dis]favour or ill-will.”

The PUP has condemned Barrow’s disgraceful behaviour in the House on Monday and has called on the Speaker of the House to request that Barrow apologize to the nation. The PUP here has given Dean Barrow the opportunity to now act like a Prime Minister. Let’s wait and see if he is prepared to inspire rather than continue to destroy.

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