08 April 2005

Our Future is Not For Fools

The Jenius lives "Far from the Madding Crowd." (Look it up: The quote is accurate.) In the case of the Competitivity Forum, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, that distance should have been eliminated. Not for the sake of The Jenius, but for the sake of Our future.

A Good Man called The Jenius today and said "We are not close to being competitive. The (foreign) presentations I saw were amazing."

Asked by The Jenius if We COULD be competitive, the Good Man replied: "If You ask over time, We can't compete in 5 years. We can't compete in 10 years. But We can probably compete in fifteen."

Let The Jenius state: This is not a pessimist. This is not an outsider. This is not a man with his head in the sand. This is a capable, informed, proud-to-be Puerto Rican man who has suddenly seen the Truth.

It is obvious: We are falling behind. Every day.

The Good Man noted that NOT ONE Senator, Member of the House or Government Official of any rank was present. The Jenius does not waste words speaking about fools, though maybe, in partial defense, The Fools received the presentations in some other forum or fashion.

But The Jenius knows they didn't: Fools are Fools no matter the opportunity.

Is this what We face? An increasingly-rapid descent into marginality? The sweeping aside of Our talent and potential? The Fate of being locked away forever from the very stage We once had a place on?

Puerto Rico was once the shining jewel of economic progress. Now many of Our former students are masters of their universe, while We play footsies with Our future. Our insipid faith in The Fools has been paid in the only coin they have: Chaos. We have let the "moldy bread and beastly circuses" entertain Us, distract Us, woo Us into a sense that "The play is the thing," when in fact, their play is nothing more than mindless drivel that buries gold under sewage.

Is the obvious pain The Jenius heard in the Good Man's voice an empty sound? Will We continue to let Fools play while Our future fades? Are We to let things continue so that, when the future fades, We can sit in Our empty present and croak: "If We'd been in charge, things would have been different."?

Heed The Jenius: WE ARE IN CHARGE. And that sound some of Us hear is the slow draining of Our future.

The Jenius Has Spoken.

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