In an age where we have become so enlightened about what is happening in the world around us, in a time when the opportunities for increased knowledge cause us to zoom by on the information super highway with hardly any awareness of the technology that makes it all possible, in an era when we have become so preoccupied with our own ambitions in a quest to excel, we have grown to take almost everything for granted.
Sadly, this attitude has caused those who are endued with knowledge to feel that everyone else should be as apt and knowledgeable as they are. And, with social media occupying so much of our time today, our people, especially our youngsters have little or no time to appreciate the virtues that have caused our existence as an Anguillian society to thrive over past generations.
Anguillians have been traditionally a humble, accommodating people. We have always been known for being grateful for our blessings and helpful to others. We have always been a people who was cognizant of our upbringing and the lessons we were taught at the hands of our forbears. These were lessons that instilled in us the values which dictated that even though we would do our best to make our own lives convenient, we should not acquire such convenience at the harsh expense of others who may not know as much as we do.
Yes, Anguillians had been traditionally a people who accepted people who were strangers among us, and those who were under-privileged. We were willing to render whatever assistance we could to make them comfortable and feel welcome among us. With changing times, however, it would appear that such qualities have also changed, and they are slowly being eroded with the passage of time. Our values then are prone to be questioned.
The question is: have we allowed the evolving of developmental trends to replace our landmarks of morality, justice, friendliness, brotherhood and old fashion love? Our society has become introverted, it seems. We tend to look at ourselves and our own interests and don’t have time to deal with others. As a result, we pay less attention to social or community harmony, and the quality of service that our ancestors taught us to give is now becoming obsolete. We have become self-centered and lukewarm and, moreover, common courtesy and mild manners seem to be a thing of the past. Due to our affluence and self-actualization we forget to be hospitable to others. And many times some us fail to apologize when wrong.
These traits have affected us as a developing society, in general, but they are particularly evident in our local public service. While fingers are not being pointed at anyone or any group in particular, experience proves that when one in need of assistance presents at a public servant’s office, ever so often such service is less than accommodating. The image is that the client or customer is being “granted a favor” if the public servant so chooses to comply with the customer’s wishes. It happens so that when such a one goes expecting to be assisted but encounters such an attitude, he walks away disenchanted or even angry with the poor service. As a result, this causes a state of conflict between the public servant and the customer.
With the coming of government’s innovative community information desk, however, it would be the general public’s hope that the quality of public service would match the intent of the initiative. The civil servants who are designated to man and manage such stations, within each community, should be willing to exemplify objective attitudes of effective aid and goodwill in assisting the members of the public who stand in need of their hospitable treatment and accommodating service. It cannot be the “same ole, same ole” business as usual.
With this new government venture, we cannot afford to ignore the important virtues of customer courtesy that should be an intrinsic part of the service rendered by well trained public service personnel. We cannot allow the existence of modern technological trends to cause us to think that the customers should be in the know when it comes to certain challenging processes. Neither can public servants afford to be preoccupied with their own interests, and ignore or belittle the needs of the client. It is my hope that public servants treat our people with a fair amount of regard as is akin to Anguillian tradition. Let us all be cognizant of our values and demonstrate the acceptable levels of respect which the people of our communities deserve.
