Hope my letter this week reaches at least one person of influence in Grenada and we will start seeing some moves on taking climate change seriously. The heat is on and every one of us is feeling it, yet we go about as normal in our everyday life. I have even seen one of our doctors bareheaded in the blazing sun. Aren’t the doctors aware that they should be leading in this, since they are the ones who are warning us about the dangers of the high temperatures we are experiencing these days? Doc it would be nice to practice what you preach.
The time has come to recognise that hats are not worn for style, they are now a much needed tool as we battle the rays of the sun. A caller on a radio programme expressed her disgust at seeing some road workers in the naked sun on Sunday. She reminded us of the two Cuban men that were brought here to teach the artisans how to upgrade their craft. Yet today can we say that we are seeing people practicing what they learnt from them?
Uncle Gairy in all his wisdom used the parliamentarians to lead the way when the straw craft was a thriving business in the Marquis/Soubise area by forbidding them to wear imported hats in parliament. This worked well because those parliamentarians used innovations to decorate the straw hats in such a way that attracted the common man. So they became the in thing back then.
Again I heard the caller make mention of the workers from China who always wear straw hats when working outside. This is a very old practice but it has almost become their signature. They are mindful of exposing their heads to the naked sun so I guess they, unlike us who most times disrespect and make fun of old traditions, have seen the wisdom in wearing their hats.
Then again the children as young as preschoolers are forced to be in the sun bareheaded. Wasn’t there a time when straw hats were part of the school uniform? The mistake a lot of us are making is that we are smarter than the people of old. Time will teach us a good lesson one day.
Anonymous
