Traffic Jam! Traffic Jam! Build some roundabouts! Traffic Jam still? Let's build a causeway! Still more Traffic? Well let's build some tunnels through the hills! So much effort to alleviate road traffic but when it comes to social mobility it seems that we are also stuck in traffic.
Social mobility is the movement of individuals or groups in their social position over time. This mobility may refer to changes in the measurement of health status, literacy, home and business ownership or level education attained but more commonly it refers to individuals or families, and their change in income. Are the low income parents raising children to live middle income lives? Are the high income parents raising children to live low income lives?
Are the people of Soualiga really moving forward in life? Very regretfully, the answer for most people is no. In past times, our parents had homes they could afford and they carried less debt, nowadays most of us have no way of affording a simple home and on top of that we are packed full of debt. Similarly, our parents had less educational opportunities but settled securely in their jobs with a high level of knowhow, while today a lot of returned students feel like educated fools seemingly overqualified, underpaid and in some cases unemployed. Most young St. Maarteners are simply trying to get to that destination where they can provide a better life for their kids than was provided for them by their parents.
But why is it so hard for young people to move forward in their own country? We are the most informed, most knowledgeable, most technological generation ever. As an island it seems we have been great at developing infrastructure, seaports and airports in the name of our tourism industry but we have failed to develop aspects of our society in the name of providing a better life for our people.
An elder St. Maartener constantly reminds me that his supervisor's job paid 1000 guilders 40 years ago, and he was able to pay all his bills, take care of the family, have a good time and still save 400 guilders a month. He refuses to understand why the young people today always complain about not having enough money, or not being able to purchase a piece of land or get a business off the ground. "Awyousuppose to be smarter than we were!"
My answer to him is always, 'Awyou should have thought better about the future for us'...
We have had countless politicians promising this and that, and all the manifestos of every political party in St. Maarten has aimed for a better life for the St. Maartener. But why is the same effort not being put into health, the diversification of our economy, immigration, housing and sports? If these parts of our society were to be developed with the amount of fine-tuned professional precision as was put into the airport, seaport and infrastructure this place would be a paradise to live in, for all.
The young adults in St. Maarten simply just want to get into gear so we can move forward in life, trying not to run into a pothole of debt, avoiding crashing into a wall of unemployment and not being able to tank up because of the high costs of living here. At the end of it all, having a home to go home to where we can put our kids to sleep at every night.
We definitely all have experienced, that when a young St. Maartener, straps in his/her seat belt, turns the ignition, gets into gear, puts their foot on the gas and tries to move forward in his life in the right direction we definitely encounter countless amounts of roundabouts, but are there any causeways to the other side? I guess that's may be the reason nowadays why so many young adults tend to go offroad...
Soualiga Social Movement
www.sxmmovement.com