{"id":56425,"date":"2025-10-12T17:46:36","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T21:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=56425"},"modified":"2025-10-12T17:46:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T21:46:36","slug":"death-before-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=56425","title":{"rendered":"Death before retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raffique Shah
\nOctober 04, 2025<\/em> <\/p>\n

Raffique Shah<\/a>As a columnist who has written a weekly piece in one or more popular newspapers for at least 45 years, I know that I\u2019ve reached my limit when the person who is helping me type the 800 words I am allowed is my daughter: she was in diapers back in 1981 and I used to occasionally shout at her when I tried to concentrate or focus, and now I am in diapers\u2014more out of caution than need.<\/p>\n

But knowing that, I have arrived at the point in my life when I can no longer say \u201cthat column is mine\u201d, my views and only mine.
\n
\nYesterday she was hustling to deliver on time to my editor, who is in a younger age bracket as well. Age stares me fixedly in my face as if saying to me, \u201cYou old fart.\u201d Oh, I still get on a roll, and off the top of my head I dictate at a dizzying pace, and she is unable to keep up with me as she is no typist.<\/p>\n

If my love for writing remains aflame, I\u2019ll try to explain the difficulty I encounter in selecting a topic I wish to address.<\/p>\n

Somebody may meet me in the course of the week and raise a topic of concern to citizens, and ask if I might want to address it in my well-read column.<\/p>\n

I bask a bit in the flattery, don my thinking cap (a cover to hide the two buss-heads I suffered recently after having fallen and hit my head on the concrete\u2014this is a Parkinson\u2019s patient\u2019s primary fear), and get to work.<\/p>\n

Invariably, I\u2019d realise I\u2019d covered that topic multiple times, to varying degrees, over the last few decades.<\/p>\n

Since I deal mainly with politics and governance, my range of topics tends to be limited inside those boundaries, which shows how a media commentator can establish his own limits without attempting to do so.<\/p>\n

Oh, I do have other pursuits that I enjoy, and which I feel competent to comment on. I wandered panyard to panyard, checking on Andre Tanker\u2019s soulful music; listened in awe to Mungal Patasar\u2019s skilful playing of the sitar; and have stopped at sporting facilities in any part of Trinidad to watch young athletes strive for excellence in their \u00adrespective disciplines.<\/p>\n

For example, today I might have chosen to launch a broadside on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar over her slide into hemispheric political \u00adjockeying in this war of provocation that US President Donald Trump has opened. I believe, though, I have dealt adequately with that topic, and its danger to the geopolitics of the region. Others more qualified than I am have commented on the issue, so why should I \u00adrevisit?<\/p>\n

The masses appear to be unbothered by their PM\u2019s bold risk-taking, where the sovereignty and safety of our country is concerned. It seems that never \u00adhaving had a war in the \u00adCaribbean for…almost ever, they are now chomping at the bit for one: oh, what fools! As if it\u2019s not bad enough to be reeling from economic malfunction of all types.<\/p>\n

The weather is not being kind to us, especially pertaining to the extreme heat we have endured, which will negatively impact our agricultural production. We are struggling to get yet another agro initiative off the ground, as many other Caribbean countries also have vested interests in doing.<\/p>\n

Persad-Bissessar and this country do not need the likes of Trump, who does not give a damn about anywhere else in the world except his own country. He plays with his toys while sitting in a control room. He dictates what the game is, and how many people he expects to kill.<\/p>\n

Thus far, mercifully, the numbers killed in our region have not crossed double digits. That could change in a flash. For example, he takes aim at a few people travelling on a ferry, two of whom are narco-traffickers\u2014his words. The operation goes awry and scores, if not hundreds, of South Americans\u2014not confined to just Venezuelans\u2014lose their lives. This is a real possibility.<\/p>\n

How would you feel if you are from Brazil, Ecuador or any of the Guianas and this happens to you? I don\u2019t know what Trinis would do. But I know the Latin Ameri\u00adcans are never afraid of a fight, and they will defend to the death the people and their sovereign state.<\/p>\n

The war they have been clamouring for\u2014if and when it comes, I hope our leaders are prepared to lead from the front; and when the devastation occurs (one only has to look at America\u2019s aftermath in Iraq or Afghanistan), be more than just financially prepared to pick up the pieces.<\/p>\n

Do you understand now why I welcome retirement? They want to kill me anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raffique Shah October 04, 2025 As a columnist who has written a weekly piece in one or more popular newspapers for at least 45 years, I know that I\u2019ve reached my limit when the person who is helping me type the 800 words I am allowed is my daughter: she was in diapers back … Continue reading Death before retirement<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[169],"class_list":["post-56425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-tt","tag-raffique-shah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56426,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56425\/revisions\/56426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}