[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n Wednesday this week the National Insurance Corporation observed its third annual “Sneaker Day”, the purpose being to encourage workers island-wide to show up at their places of employment in sneakers, not in their customary footwear. Even the prime minister was photographed dashing (okay, heaving himself) in and out of black automobiles, all suited up as usual, but sporting shoes normally associated with jogging.
The idea behind Sneaker Day, I am reliably assured, is to reinforce the importance of good health and the benefits of an active lifestyle, particularly for those whose jobs require them to sit at desks for hours on end, five days a week. The initiative was undertaken after the NIC noted a continuous increase in sickness benefit claims, which it attributes to a significant increase in non-communicable health issues such as heart disease, stroke and cancers. This time around workers were encouraged to take selfies with their sneaks on and then post the images on their social media pages with the hashtag #758sneakerday2018.
While the NIC understands it cannot directly reduce the number of ailing patients at our local hospitals, its ambition, as with many hashtag-driven initiatives, is to build awareness. But what if we really took this idea and, er, ran with it? What if we went the extra mile and truly maximized the benefits of spreading a healthy message?
An ever-thoughtful colleague proffered this idea: instead of encouraging the use of sneakers—all imported—we could take the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. What if, instead of Sneaker Day, we had, say, a No Sugar Day—with No Sugar Today emblazoned on . . . Now that’s the hard part. Emblazoned on what? More imported tees? How about stickers on our vehicles? Another no-no, for obvious reasons. What exactly do we produce in Saint Lucia, anyway, that might warrant free promotion even as we promote good health habits? What the heck, I think I’ve got it: Clean Air Day. It would require that all gas-guzzlers be left where they were last parked. We could walk to work, or ride to the workplace on a bike. Think of it. A whole day without car exhaust fumes.
Oh, but that wouldn’t work either. Just remembered bikes, too, are imported. Oh, but donkeys—by whatever name—are not. And they’re just about everywhere. William Peter Boulevard, Jeremie Street
. . . Simply Beautiful Saint Lucia is like old MacDonald’s farm, only instead of ducks and hens it’s donkeys we have. At every corner. Here an ass, there an ass, everywhere a jackass . . . Oh, but I see another discouragement: I can’t tell which is worse, car fumes or jackass droppings. I guess we’ll be stuck for a while longer with Sneaker Day. At any rate, until we start producing our own sneakers and local consumers begin to take seriously our Buy Local Campaign. By the way, whatever happened to that?
