Embracing Mediocrity?

For many years now I have tried to fathom what is at the heart of the St. Lucian character. Why do we seem at times so eager to strive for excellence and yet are so quick to embrace mediocrity? That question was heightened when, some thirty odd years ago a physically and mentally challenged man from whom no word was discernible was voted road match King of carnival. As if that were not sufficient evidence of our love affair with the lesser standards we continue to throw up square pegs in round holes in almost every aspect of our lives.
Take athletics for example. This year we organised the sixth annual Easter Monday Senior Games. And I determined to visit with a view to discovering why so many flock to these games. I had never visited the George Odlum Stadium for any reason. Sure, I know where it is when it was built and by whom. But I have never visited there as a spectator for the simple reason that I feared whatever I may have seen in there would be too much of a disappointment to handle with calm and composure. But last weekend I attended the Senior Games and suddenly realised that I may have put my finger on the real reason so many go to this place every Easter Monday. There, mediocrity (and the lack of any International standards in performance to guide anything going on in there, including the time of starting the games) reigned supreme. These games were probably organised with our Creole-speaking brethren in mind, whatever other benefits that may now be attached to them.
Besides the obvious one or two elders who have kept their bodies fit as a sort of vocation to their youth, the other participants (the vast majority, I guess) appeared never to have taken part in any sort of sports before the advent of those games. And as if that were not sufficient proof of our aversion to top quality performance and the embrace of mediocrity consider this: on the night following the Senior Games the medals standing from the junior Carifta Games which had just ended in St. Kitts were announced and there were no medal winners from St. Lucia. Not one! Why do you suppose that was? And can we discuss this failure in the context of the senior games? Will anything be done now to promote healthy lifestyles and a competitive spirit in our youth and prepare them for a bundle of medals at the next youth games? St. Lucia’s performance at these junior games as in football and cricket surprises no one who has been following the management trends in sports in fair Helen over the past several years.
The determined system of mediocrity seems even more evident in our two major sports, cricket and football. No sooner than one President of either of these major sport seem to have gotten a handle on what is required to send his particular discipline forward than some conspiracy is organised against him and a new mediocrity emerges to take the sport backwards. It is absolutely scandalous what is happening to sports in St. Lucia and to athletics in particular. And this is not an attack on anybody.
Some years ago the St. Lucia football team engaged the Martinique national team in a contest in Haiti at a Caribbean Football Union Cup match. At half time St. Lucia was leading Martinique by three clear goals. By the end of the match Martinique had triumphed by five goals to four or some such ridiculous score line. I know that happens in sports. But I remain convinced that that simple fact is not sufficient to explain our second half performance in that match. Following that debacle I met the then Minister of Sports at a public place and suggested that his Ministry carries out an investigation to get to the bottom of what had happened. He may very well have done so. But I am not aware that any findings were ever made public. I was therefore not surprised when some time later at a similar competition, St. Lucia was disgraced by St. Vincent, Jamaica and Haiti to the tune of seventeen goals against them in these three matches with only a token in reply.

And we have the bad habit of carrying on nonchalantly after such disgraceful performances as a toddler learning to walk might do after each fall. We simply pick up ourselves brush our backsides and continue merrily along as if nothing serious had happened. And that lack of standard does not stop with sports. If that were so then achieving excellence in other aspects of our lives could probably be seen as just compensation. But no such luck. And as if to further embellish the point of our love affair with mediocrity, last weekend’s Voice news paper carried a piece by one of its lead writers on the first ever Music Awards Extravaganza held in St. Lucia. In it the writer quoted at length from one Darby Etienne who seems to have had inside information on the organization of the first ever music awards in St. Lucia and the way that was hi-jacked by incompetents, (I prefer mediocrity), and never attained the high international standards it should have, thereby keeping with the apparent national trait of feeding at the bottom of the international pile. And yet this is the country which likes to boast about its two Nobel Laureates.
I am beginning to give more serious thought to the idea that there is in reality two St. Lucia’s - One French the other English –and leading to two distinct cultures. There is also a theory that we have not yet accepted this fact nor have we tried to reconcile that important schism. To prove it, one may argue that there are very few St. Lucians who have successfully bridged that cultural and linguistic divide. To find one who is equally at ease in both is to find a very rare St. Lucian indeed.
That mediocrity has also wound its way into our politics and even in the Parliament of St. Lucia should therefore surprise no one. The excuse offered is that with the advent of adult suffrage and the arming of each illiterate with one vote, after they had attained the qualifying age, their choices at the ballot box were bound to be reflected in the type of representative in Parliament. And this is not unique to St. Lucia if that makes you feel better. Besides, politics is a passing and ever changing phenomenon. The practice of regular elections coupled with the now accepted party political system will continue to throw up even more surprises in the future and with it hopefully, better and more competent politicians. For now unfortunately mediocrity persists. And this is made doubly worst because we refuse to ask the tough questions. And we don’t because we believe that there is a certain natural rhythm to life and that in time and with prayer mediocrity will finally abandon us leaving us to arrive at the next stage of development with some pride. The disappointing news is that has never happened in the course of human history and it will not any time soon.
Quite often the passage of time without concrete corrective measures makes bad things worst, not better. Over time politics may correct itself as voting patterns may not be as culturally ingrained as say the standards we accept in athletics performance or in other sports such as football and cricket.
And finally, let me say I arrived at the George Odlum Stadium at nine thirty for a meet which was advertised to start at nine o’clock. In the hour or so before the start I must have surveyed more than five hundred adults and youth to determine how many were following the first test cricket match being played in Guyana between the West Indies and Sri Lanka. I did not see one person with a radio and listening to cricket. Not one! And if you think that that point is irrelevant think again. And the organizers need not fear; no one I know expected a prompt nine o’clock start, thus confirming our love affair with mediocrity.