PR – Lawyer and opposition parliamentarian, Peter David, has recognized taxi-drivers, community organizers, and older family siblings for their leadership roles in society, and also has commended Grenadians that have had the courage to speak out where necessary and have refused to remain silent.
Problems are not solved by people who are silent but by courageous and independent thinkers, said David, adding that remaining quiet on national issues carries a financial cost.
“Think about what that costs us. Last year, EC$24 million in healthcare funding went unspent while people waited for medicine and care. Jobs don’t get created because cronyism beats competence. Systems work beautifully for the few who know the right people, while everyone else struggles. That’s what happens when people stop thinking independently and start just going along,’’ David, leader of the Democratic People’s Movement (DPM), said in an interview.
“I’ve seen what happens in families when one person decides to think independently. Sometimes, it creates tension at first; But then, other people start thinking too. Conversations change; people stop performing for the crowd and start actually talking to each other. That’s when real change becomes possible.’’
According to David, many associate courage with being “loud’’; as something that “shows up as defiance’’.
“The person who shouts longest, shames hardest, attacks fastest, gets the attention. So, everyone else learns the same lesson — stay quiet or pay the price. And, it works for a while,’’ the DPM leader said.
However, what happens over time is that “you become smaller. Your thinking becomes smaller; your options become smaller; and, you tell yourself it’s just how things are. But, it’s not how things are. It’s how things have become when quiet people stay quiet’’, said David, a former Grenada government minister and current MP for the Town of St George.
“The real courage in Grenada right now is the person who sits at a family dinner where everyone’s talking one way, and they ask a question nobody wants asked. It’s the woman in the workplace who says, ‘actually, I disagree’, when the whole room has already decided. It’s the young person who reads something, thinks for themselves, and moves forward with their own conclusion. That’s courage.’’
Think for yourselves, David urged, and “judge ideas by whether they make sense, not by who said them. Support what works and question what doesn’t. Be willing to change your mind when you learn something new. When you do that, you find out you’re not alone. You weren’t ever alone. There were always other quiet people thinking the same thing. But, nobody spoke first’’.
The Movement being built by DPM “isn’t waiting for permission from anyone’’, and neither is the nation-building work being done by “a lot of ordinary Grenadians’’, said David.
“I’ve seen the young man holding his household together, while his mother works three jobs. Making sure his siblings eat; making sure homework gets done; making sure there’s some kind of normalcy when the world feels chaotic. That’s leadership. I’ve seen the lady on the corner who quietly organizes the community activities,’’ David said.
“Leadership isn’t about a title. It’s about seeing what needs to happen and deciding you’re going to help make it happen. It’s about organizing people around something that matters,’’ he added.
“That corner lady organizing her neighbours? She’s building the country. That taxi-driver watching out for his community? He’s building the country. You’re not waiting for leadership to happen. You’re already doing it. The real power in Grenada has always been with you—in your homes, in your communities. That’s where change starts. That’s the only kind of change that actually lasts.’’
As a people, Grenadians must “move forward together—not as a herd following the loudest voice—but as individuals choosing to cooperate. That’s not weakness; that’s maturity. And, Grenada needs it now more than ever,’’ said David, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tourism and Agriculture.
