Dear Editor,
Their loneliness and hidden despair can be seen through the sadness of their eyes. Many times placed on dirty floors. An improvised small house if they are a little lucky. Perhaps interminable hope that somebody can understand their tragedy of undetermined and interminable amount of seconds, hours, days, months, if survived, may last some years supporting the heat in summer or the windy, rainy cold nights. Surviving many times within their own feces until somebody cleans around.
We are living in a world of careless non-sensed acts against animals. Uneducated adults, youngsters, children capable of committing this nonsense act of cruelty that could be punishable! They seem to be unaware of the cruelty committed day by day. Within their narrow mind they think – “Who cares”, they are animals, they don’t have feelings – that’s the way humans with a low sense or no compassion at all think. When those chained dogs were puppies, they were so cute, so innocent, and unaware of the nightmare that they will be victimized and abused for life when falling in the wrong hands.
It is extremely important and necessary to educate kids, teens, lacking of the compassion sense that is transmitted from the family education roots. It’s hard and almost impossible to reach this point in uncaring selfish society that cares only for them. Thinking that that adult dog can take care of the entrance of a house, it’s just an animal, just staying there “who cares”. If their heavy chain hurts if it is corroded and tied, who cares! Just drop some dry food and some water, it will be enough!
Chaining dogs for life could be banned if there were more educated kids to understand their suffering. They have to live like they were the most dangerous delinquents! Dogs are neglected and abused permanently for life. There is an unregistered amount of dogs that nobody cares about, just for the pleasure to have them.
Due to limited human interaction and exercise, they become frustrated and nerved, leading in aggressiveness and frustration, sometime timid. Owners refuse to have them neutered or spayed. There is an over-population in a contrast of human “poor education”.
Sometimes it is impossible to sleep hearing nearby dogs out crying for hours their frustration, totally unable to free themselves! Are we living in such place or time of uneducated society? I can’t understand those levels of cruelty. It seems to be living within a surreal world. There is an urgent need to help the humans committing this criminal act! “Awareness and education urgently needed”.
People can’t imagine how healthy it is to walk their dogs. Families with kids should share this activity, especially if dogs are in a close small cage or space where they can barely move or feel lonely. Please teach kids to improve our environment.
Name withheld at author’s request
Dear Editor,
Congratulations to St. Maarten’s prime minister, justice minister, St. Maarten Police and Justice workers.
Great, excellent effort to call on everyone to let Carnival 2023 be safe and enjoyable.
The public want the police to lock up anyone that is not properly dressed.
In many of the CARICOM countries men and women that are not properly dressed can be locked up until the jam is over.
Women worldwide must be wise. Depends how your mother-in-law saw your kind of dancing in Carnival, it can end a love relationship.
So, have a safe and enjoyable Carnival 2023, coming from justice workers. Be safe.
Cuthbert Bannis
Dear Editor,
No, it is not prejudicial, nor is it being self-centred or conceited. Fact is if selection is done adequately, anybody can become a Minister of Government, but not anyone can be selected to be a police officer. We need healthy people with a level head, who are not trigger-happy and are able to deal with ridicule and insults; people who do not take everything personal. We need people with a certain level of education, who are able to compile reports and statistics. etc., here on Sint Maarten in Dutch and English. We need people who do not discriminate in any fashion. But there is something basically wrong when such criteria are demanded to become a police officer and the criteria to be leader in government do not even require a minimum level of education.
These are the same people who dare criticise and evaluate others. It might sound sarcastic, but are they not right when they determine that students who after graduating abroad and apply for a job here where they were born and bred, are made out to be "overqualified" for the job that they apply for?
I am not a mindreader, but after reading the expression made by Julio Romney in the paper of Friday/Saturday April 22/23, I am under the firm impression that Romney, who continuously demonstrates professionalism, expressed himself out of frustration on Thursday when he stated "We have also heard the false narrative on the floor of Parliament that members of Parliament have a right to declare themselves as an independant Member of Parliament".
Although Romney explained to them that he could not find any legislation to sustain this and requested such from those self-appointed independent members of Parliament, they have not done so and continue to illegally represent themselves as indepenedant members of Parliament. I do not know what Romney's advice would be, but logic would tell me that those self-appointed independant members should either re-associate themselves with their original party, or give up their seat in Parliament The different parties would then have to determine who is in line to be the next member of Parliament for the party.
Because I am aware that politicians often use big words to impress, I would like to know what is the situation or the fact whose cause or explanation is in question , unique to Sint Maarten. Even a blind man can see that our people in government are ready to use everything possible to do what is convenient for themselves rather than to take care of the people who pay their overinflated salaries.
I can express these feelings because for forty-one years I earned every penny that I received, and am still paying taxes on moneys that so many others and myself deposited in the coffers of government for over forty years. I do not think a professional like Romney would go into Parliament and prove to the world that he does not know what he is talking about. The seats belong to the political party, not to MPs and MPs have no right to declare themself an independent member of Parliament. I wonder if those members of Parliament would think of claiming Parliamentary immunity if they were charged with performing in an illegal or false capacity?
Russell A. Simmons
Dear Editor,
An agreement for provision of clinical and medical services was reached and signed between the management of SZV Social and Health Insurance of St. Maarten and director Jose Chavez, MD of the International Healthcare Services at Clinica de Occidente in Cali, Colombia.
Something must have gotten lost in translation because the “safe and high-quality health services” for international patients are nowhere to be seen, and not even their domestic patients are given quality care.
Clinica Occidente is understaffed, their personnel is overworked with 12 hour shifts. As a result, patients are not tended to in a timely manner, do not get prescribed physical therapy on a regular basis, and dangerous mistakes are made in administering medication. Lack of communication between doctors and nursing staff, lack of prescribed medication and hygienic supplies can and has led to complications and setbacks in the recovery of patients. Often, the patient’s family member ends up purchasing these items at a pharmacy. In the hospitalization section, 2 nurses aides have to tend to patients in at least 23 rooms. The registered nurse who’s in charge of the department does not report to the attending physician when a patient gets bedsores, hemorrhoids, vomiting, and diarrhea caused by medication or infections. The physician only hears about these issues when it’s mentioned by the patient’s family member/travel companion. When this is pointed out to the nurse in charge, it’s not always appreciated and has resulted in nasty attitudes.
Changes in treatment, scheduling of procedures, and moving of patients to other sections of the hospital are not always communicated to the family member/companion and are the cause of much anxiety.
The cleanliness of patients and the hospital in general leaves a lot to be desired, especially since the restrooms are not cleaned on a regular basis. Many patients in Cali have told me their own horror stories. All of the above concerns are not hearsay, they are what I experienced as a travel companion to a family member. My complaints were delivered in person to the office in Cali and by phone and email to the office in St. Maarten.
When our concerns got to the point where we knew it had become a matter of life and death, we tried to transfer to a hospital that offered better care. We confirmed that all further medical/transfer costs would be at our expense. All our efforts to do so were blocked by Jose Chavez, director of the International Healthcare Services. Even after my family member passed away Jose Chavez tried to make us believe that human remains can only be shipped on a cargo plane via Miami. We knew better and succeeded in making our own arrangements so our beloved family member could be brought home with us on the same commercial flight that we arrived on.
We don’t know the reasons why St. Maarten patients are being sent to a hospital with a 3.2 ranking, why patients are kept there against their will, and why human remains are only flown out by cargo plane – via Miami. We do know that The International Healthcare Services at Clinica de Occidente in Cali, Colombia, under the leadership of their director Jose Chavez, is earning a windfall at the expense of St. Maarten’s patients.
Rita Halley
Dear Editor,
Some weeks ago, I sat in church and listened to the pastor preaching. He spoke about the dysfunctional human desires to take, grab and have, which are all deeply rooted in human nature. The more I listened, the more I realized that what the pastor was saying was a depiction of the current events unfolding in the world. My mind raced to the current war between Russia and Ukraine, to power-hungry women and men in leadership positions, to the boys on the street corners who refused to work but want to have it all and therefore they target the Chinese shops, to the many shortcuts that have been taken “to grab” rather than to earn by hard-working means, and to the women who cheapen themselves for luxurious lifestyles and worldly possessions.
Later that afternoon, as I reflected on the sermon, I became more fascinated and decided to dig further. Through research, I found out that dysfunctional human desires refer to a variety of unproductive, harmful, or totally destructive desires that we experience as human beings. These desires can take numerous forms, from the urge to abuse power, to overeat or overspend to the compulsion to engage in addictive behaviours like alcohol or drug abuse. In addition, the root of these desires is often driven by a sense of emptiness or dissatisfaction within us. We may feel that something is missing from our lives, or that we are not living up to our full potential. In response, we may turn to these dysfunctional desires as a way to fill the void or distract ourselves from our problems.
It then dawned on me that these dysfunctional behaviours are like octopuses. They have many tentacles that have far-reaching effects. Personally, I have been a victim of dysfunctional human desires on the work floor, like many others. We have worked assiduously and made our contribution to the growth and development of organizations; however, it did not shelter us from the undermining, denigrating, lying, denying, assuming, blaming, discrediting, and gaslighting. On the contrary, one would have thought that educated people would “know better”, but apparently, that is not the case. I, like many others have come to realize that this happens in the workplace because some qualified individuals are only qualified on paper; they have absorbed and recalled to get good grades in colleges and universities, however, they lack the ability to think and solve problems, and they are emotional and vindictive.
Regrettably, these desires hardly provide the satisfaction people seek. Instead, they tend to exacerbate the problems, leading to negative consequences such as financial devastation, broken personal and professional relationships, and health problems.
To overcome dysfunctional desires, it is important to understand their underlying causes. This may involve soliciting professional help, developing healthier coping mechanisms, and taking steps to address any underlying emotional or psychological issues.
Ultimately, it is important to remember that we are all humans, and we all experience desires that are less than productive or healthy. By acknowledging and addressing these desires, we can begin to live more fulfilling and satisfying lives.
Natchie Swardes
Moniker used at author’s request.
