Dear Editor,
Well, we know in Guyana that ‘prevention is better than cure.’ I was trying to research this saying so as to have a better idea of the origins, but without any success. Variations include ‘an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure’ and ‘a stitch in time saves nine.’ You get the general idea.
Now this saying represents the distilled wisdom of centuries of human experience. Then there is (of course) the price of ignoring wisdom. How many times do we look back at the scenes of our failures and harshly chastise ourselves on our poor performance despite knowing better? According to George Santayana (Google him, he’s a great philosopher), “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Well here’s my point: when are we going to get a system that is proactive and responsive in the early detection and repairing of the bridges on the Railway Embankment Road of the East Coast of Demerara? Do we have to wait until someone puts a picture of the condition of the bridge in the newspapers as happened the last time?
Yours faithfully,
Ravindra Saul
