Dear Editor,
William Shakespeare coined the phrase “to be hoist with one’s own petard” (in Dutch “wie een kuil graaft voor een ander, valt er zelf in”). I do not understand why that is not in the back of one’s head when plotting for another, because nowadays there are so many phrases and slangs which remind one of the results of such actions, for example “Karma”, “payback is a b**ch”, “what goes around comes around”, etc.
It was in the news. Miss Daniel knew what she was doing. It was no secret and there was a lot of gloating. From all that I have read, I do not believe that Miss Daniel is a victim, I believe that the board, that she helped to get rid of, is the victim if they choose to accept being the victim. Miss Daniel in my opinion is not a puppet, she was the dagger in someone else’s hand. And if she claims to be a puppet then is she letting us know that she was being used to do, in this case, the dirty work? She is very shortsighted.
Again, from what I read, if you are the head of a department in GEBE I believe that you should have a level of maturity and education to be able to notice when something is not right. And if you go along with it, and it backfires, don’t try to play the victim.
It is time for us to speak the truth. If Miss Daniel feels that she is a puppet, then who is the puppeteer? Who is she protecting? Is it so, that now that she has experienced the manipulative ways and viciousness of those who have her on a string that she feels intimidated?
So what should be the next step? Easy. Get on your knees, look up and be honest. Ask for forgiveness, confront those who you know you have wronged and free up yourself by forgiving those who you feel have wronged you. Romans 12:19 explains the rest. Let your experience be your guide from here going forward and, just like I always say, “Do the right thing.”
Repeating myself. My father used to ask us when we did something that was not right, “Why is there time enough to do it over and not enough time to do it right the first time?”
Over the years I have read many proverbs which have been interpreted and translated in the way that they were understood. To be kind is more important than to be right.
The way life is going nowadays I believe that oftentimes what people need is not a brilliant mind that speaks, but a special heart that listens. Because GEBE is known to be the one of the government-owned companies and that GEBE is the company that constantly bails out the government financially, people are curious about what happens in GEBE. Because of the saying “If it is not broken don’t fix it”, people want to know why are those involved (in this case, the puppeteers) so eager to get rid of the board that was making money for the company and, according to what is said, bring in “shady figures”.
Which makes me think of another well-known saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” I have known the meaning of the words “integrity” and “ethical” from the time I was a child because when we did something that was not acceptable the first thing we would say “Ai’n do nothing wrong” and our parents’ answer was always “Even though it might not be wrong, what you did was not nice.” As we grew older that “not nice” was explained to mean “not ethical”. And that people with integrity do the ethical thing.
When I read about the happenings around GEBE and the airport (money dispute) I am not ready to accept that the puppeteers are people of integrity. I cannot affirm if what was said is true, but MP [Member of Parliament – Ed.] Emmanuel is seen on social media labelling St. Maarten as “da Gangsta Paradise” and again it is about money. Not sufficient evidence or getting off on a technicality does not mean innocent.
On November 3, 2020, we had an example of when people don’t run their country right, how the voters get rid of them. Do not let that go unobserved when it is our turn.
Russell A. Simmons
