THE EDITOR: There is so much darkness in this small country of ours of barely one and a half million people - 12 murders on the Easter weekend when Christ would have resurrected to bring light into the world. But amidst this all-pervading darkness there are little pockets of light that keep flickering, like the luminescent algae on a moonlit night in Manzanilla, giving us some hope of redemption, as the Resurrection was intended to do.
Like with the Public Service, often stereotyped as 'no service,' but where I found such rays of light, in two instances, first at the Licensing Office in San Fernando, where the darkness loomed initially, my wife and I being turned away because we overlooked the need to confirm the appointment details and so did not in fact have an official appointment although the computer chit gave the details of the date and time et al.
However, the officer nonchalantly sent us packing to return in another six months, my only peeve being that he could have been a little more considerate about senior citizens like ourselves, not being computer savvy and likely to err. But he did not, and in hindsight he was simply doing his job.
But when we did get another appointment only six weeks after instead of six months as the officer had said, as if by divine intervention, redemption came in the form of a buxom security officer, seemingly intimidating and 'huff and puff,' who initially refused my request to accompany my wife, often prone to little bouts of weakness while standing in a line.
But the security officer was far from discourteous, as I came to realise afterwards. She was merely insisting that 'the lady can take care of herself,' which she facilitated by personally seeing to it that she was well placed in the line and then ushering her to the photography section in front of all others as a senior citizen. And in 'two twos,' as we say in Trinidad, she was done and we were smiling on our way out.
Not, of course, without the 'tongue-in-cheek' response from the security guard with her 'I told you so' remark as she smiled at me.
Goodness can often come in unforeseen packages like these. We only have to look a little more closely.
In the second instance at the Pensions Division section on Cipero Street in San Fernando, as against the stereotype of 'no service' in the Public Service, the group of officers was as professional as you can get, doing their jobs as the officer at the Licensing Office, but with a kindness and consideration to all the elderly people present that seemed all part of that professionalism.
My wife and myself were no exception, with me goofing up once again with the wrong form and our attending officer effusive in her expressions of understanding the plight of the elderly, politely assuring me about not worrying about my error, again unlike my licensing officer who sent us packing for a single error.
She advised I could just fill out the correct form, which she made available on the spot, even doing the copies for us. And her associate officer going so f
