It appears that because of “Directive 80/181/EEC of the European Parliament and Council of 20 December 1979” Saint Lucians will have little choice but to adopt the Standard International (S. I.) Units for commercial, academic and legal activities. The European Union (EU) requires that, by January 1 2010, all items imported into the EU must be labeled using S.I. units. Therefore, in order for our produce to gain access to that market we must comply with that requirement. It would be unwieldy to use one metrological (methods of measurement) system for international transactions and another for internal transactions, thus it is prudent to proclaim and bring into common use the Metrology Act No 17 of 2000. It is unfortunate that it took an act of a foreign entity, the EU, to make this country implement that act, but then Saint Lucians have always been subject to the whims of colonizing powers.

In most circumstances, human beings have a proclivity to avoid changes in the way we do things and in the way we think about the things that we do. For example, regardless of the social climate spawned by incumbent political parties, more than fifty percent of the voting populace will not change allegiance to the two dominant political parties. Regardless of the detrimental effects of the carnage on the roads bikers and motorists don’t readily adopt safety measures such as riding with helmets, wearing seat belts and not driving when drunk. Regardless of evidence to the contrary, we continue to believe that an obeah man (or any of the other variants) can have a profound effect on a person’s well being or on a person’s demise.

It requires little conjecture to recognize that for the most part our actions in each instance of a given situation do not change because our thoughts related to that situation have not changed. The market built at Tamazo provides an appropriate example of the way behaviour remains unchanged because minds have not changed. The persons who should use that market continue to believe it is more profitable to ply their trade on the roadside. So they virtually disregard the market.

There have been occasions when legislation has been used to force persons to change their behavioural patterns. Very often, such efforts yield acceptable results only after considerable effort. Indeed, the enactment of legislation does not guarantee that it will take a short time for changes in behaviour. The pervasive use of public awareness campaigns appears to do little to persuade the targeted audience to make changes to their way of life—at least not in the short term. The reluctance to embrace change is so ubiquitous that it makes no difference that the proposed change will be beneficial. For example many resist changes to lifestyles even when such changes would bring immeasurable improvement to their quality of life (smoking to non-smoking comes to mind).

Some take the view that a vigilant regime of charging then (con)fining persons who do not behave in accordance with the requirements of legislation may force the offenders to desist from committing the offending act and to see, eventually, the merit of the principle enshrined in the legislation. This position is entirely consistent with Martin Luther King’s perspective that, “The law cannot make you love me, but it can prevent you from lynching me. And if you don’t lynch me, you may eventually come to love me.” Unfortunately and too often persons who desist from behaviour out of fear of punishment (or the enjoyment of a reward) readily resort to the undesirable behaviour when the likelihood of punishment (reward) is removed. It is little wonder that the generally accepted rule is that when persons make changes because they understand the need for those changes, these changes are more likely to be
long-lasting.

As we embark on effecting the change from using the Imperial System (yards, gallons, pounds etc) to the use of the metric system we must remember the lessons taught by the major changes from a monetary system based on Pounds Shillings and Pence to one based on Dollars and Cents. The demographics of my readers suggest that many of you will remember the days for example: a “Shilling” was 24 cents not 25 cents; when a five dollar note was a “byé bunk”; when fifty cents was “dé shlen kat sou”. The use of the language associated with Pounds, Shillings and Pence did not automatically stop the day the use of that monetary stopped. Instead the terms have evolved to the point that the ordinary Kweyol speaker, when making reference to seventy five cents, no longer says “twa shlen si sou” but says instead the truncated “twa shlen.”

The hope is that the transition from the imperial system to the S.I. will be seamless and thus seem less likely to be the cause of unnecessary aggravation. It has been suggested that Christianity adopted the festive days (December 25 for instance) of the Pagans in order to better manage the imposition of the Christian festivals on the Pagans. I think there are lessons there for those who must implement change.