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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 71 - Wednesday August 03, 2005 |
The Road Ahead May be Difficult
 Speech by Thomson Fontaine Delivered to the 2005 Graduating Class (2nd) of the Dominica State College
When I was approached by Miss Warner to speak at the graduation ceremony of the State College, I immediately responded in the affirmative. I viewed this as an excellent opportunity to directly address Dominica�s future.
You are that future, a future which starts now�.young men and women who have committed themselves to further education and to building better lives for themselves and their country. Let me congratulate you on your accomplishments. You have done well; overcome the many obstacles that once lay before you.
The road ahead may not be an easy one. It may not be as simple as the one already traveled. There are no recruiters waiting outside of these doors to take you into their work places. In the age of Globalization the competition is fast and furious, only the fittest survives. The pressures of the work place demand new skills, a new awareness and the ability to adapt to change.
This is an age when the very essence of our societies is being challenged. A world where young men find solace in blowing up innocent men, women and children. A world where drugs and violence appear to be the norm and not the exception. A world where unemployment, poverty and hunger wreck havoc in the lives of millions of people as Aids continue to devour lives.
I have looked at the face of hunger and disease in Africa, and spent sleepless nights worrying about the children in many of those countries. In the country to which I�m currently assigned, Niger, babies are dying for lack of food and nutrition and the world appears to not care. In our own country, Dominica, the lines of the unemployed are large and growing.
In the midst of a world seemingly gone mad, the onus is therefore on you to be creative, to find new ways for dealing with those challenges. Without the guarantee of a job or a scholarship, you must begin to think of ways to address your economic future. You heard the Prime Minister declare this morning that the size of government is invariably shrinking. One can no longer depend on the government for creating new jobs.
You should begin to think of ways of collaborating with your colleagues to create some employment, find new ways of doing things, combine your efforts, seek advice and help in forging your own destiny.
No one ever said that the world was an easy place. The only thing certain is that it is changing and often not for the best. While some of you will find the easy route to migration, for others this may not be possible.
I would like to urge you to keep working hard. Be young men and women of integrity. Stay true to Dominica. When and if you leave its shores don�t turn your back and be forever lost. Commit to serving your country wherever you are. Bring your skills and talents to bear on the future of this country.
After having spoken this morning, one young lady came up to me and asked me how she can accomplish what I have done. My answer was simple��keep working hard. There is no substitute for hard work. Don�t view any task as been beneath you to perform. If I can borrow from what I said this morning; whatever your hand find to do, do it��.
Finally, I wish you every success that life has to offer. May you continue to excel and tread the path to excellence and bigger and brighter things in life.
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