------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | New on Goanet's website's A&E section - http://www.goanet.org | | Book in Review: A Kind of Absence - Joao da Veiga Coutinho | | POEM: SUSEGAAD - Cynthia Gomes James | | http://www.goanet.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=216 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <We have a couple of sayimgs in America which I have modified to suit this context, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, tell others how to do." AND "Put your money where your mouth is!">
Shorn of all the verbiage this can be reduced to "put up or shut up" (or more politely if even more briefly "walk the talk"). Unfortunately it (put up or shut up) takes us back to the very problem Ethel was trying to address i.e. seeing things monochromatically. Even more unfortunately, the knee jerk reliance on proverbs, cliches, formulas may itself be a reflection of sloppy thinking. What is the "problem" the formula is supposed to tackle? This has been over-looked in the rush to the keyboard. The problem is not primarily of "goanet" (whose members may appear to some as "dummies" to be straightened out). Rather Ethel's focus is on "Goa's" problems. Are these real or imaginary? In this context and keeping in mind the otherwise sensible advice about, in effect, having a "bias for action", what does one make of the fact (which Dr Joe D'Souza pointed out in today's HERALD) that Goa's leadership is made up of a veritable army of ex-chief ministers/deputy chief ministers and ex-senior cabinet members. In addition the ruling party is led by an ex-chief minister as is the speaker of the assembly. We can also say that the Opposition leader is an ex-chief minister and one out of the three MPs from Goa is an ex-chief minister who not only serves on a defense committee, but the other worthy served in the civil aviation ministry. Still the aviation scene to take just one sector is as much of a mess as ever! As for the broader scene, HERALD put it pithily in its editorial today asking "Who is in charge?" when constant reference is made to the central leadership via Margaret Alva? Maybe there is a problem with the collective mind set of our leadership rather than with specific individuals. So let's have an intelligent discussion instead of falling into the usual trap of "one-upmanship"..... for "Goa's" sake! Cheers.
