I was sorting some old files when I came across this letter which was published in the year 2000.  This letter started my writing career.

Regards,

Grenville

———————————–

Dear Editor:

I have followed the co-education debate with interest and would like to offer my personal perspective on this multifaceted issue.

I returned to Combermere a few years ago to participate during the Old Scholars’ week of events.  We met with our headmistress, Ms Pile, in her office, and then proceeded to the auditorium.  I recall the combined chatter of hundreds of students as we drew closer, then as Ms Pile led the procession of old scholars into the auditorium, all of the students ceased talking and rose to their feet – I was almost overcome with emotion.

Once the Headmistress had invited the executive members of the CSOSA to be seated on the platform, she approached the microphone.  “Sit please”, and we all sat.  The notices were read, the prayers were said, and the hymn was sung.  Nothing had changed.  My beloved Combermere had retained its character and culture.   Then it was time for the school song.  I could hardly contain myself, for I used to sing in the school choir, and the school song held a special meaning for me then.

Lives are in the making here

Hearts are in the waking here

Mighty undertaking here

Up and on, up and on.

I can attest that these words are true, and what meaning they hold for me now.  As we sang the chorus, I could control my emotion no longer and wept for the first time in 15 years.

Up then! Truest fame lies in high endeavour
Play the game, keep the flame burning brightly ever

It is out of my love for this school, and its current and former students and teachers, and because I deeply treasure the memories and appreciate its culture that I feel compelled to provide my perspective.  To those who would hitherto be offended I offer my sincerest apologies.

I entered Combermere one year prior to the arrival of the girls and was placed in Lower 1D.  I vividly remember the authoritative yet simple manner in which teachers like Mr Roach who taught me English, and was affectionately known as Spoon (however not called that to his face by anyone who respected him), and Mr Sealy who taught me mathematics, were able to convey information.  Then there was our lone female teacher, Ms Jebodsingh from whom I learnt geography and integrity.

I distinctly remember the final day of the second term, happening upon young Hugh, who was weeping.  I inquired the reason for his apparent distress to which he replied that he had placed 8th in class.  I queried what was wrong with that, seeing as how I had placed 27th out of a class of 29 boys.  He bemoaned the fact that the previous term, he had placed 3rd.  There was also young Riley who I believe placed first, however both Riley and Hugh retook the 11+ Common Entrance exam later that year and subsequently left Combermere for HC.

Those were the days when boys seemed eager to learn.  When our teachers asked a question, one answered without hesitation.  Regardless of the answer, something was learnt, and even if I was incorrect, to be called upon was an honour, and the attempt itself was an achievement.

From Lower 1D, we went to form Upper 1F.  The school song was changed from “Up boys” to “Up then”, new bathrooms had been constructed for the girls, and although there were no girls in our class, the subject of much of the conversation centred around them.  However, learning continued and I distinctly remember the feelings of accomplishment in finally grasping the fundamentals of set theory and algebra, which I have not forgotten to this day.

For 2 years, whenever my father drove past Combermere, usually on our way to church, I would sit up and salute the school.  Why would an 11-year-old boy do such a thing that some may deem lunatic?  I suppose that I just loved the school.

We graduated to form 2G where the girls joined us.  They abolished the lower/upper first forms that year, and with the girls sitting so close, learning for me was difficult.  Puberty found me fascinated with these girls.  I can recall little of what I learned from forms 2 to 5, but I clearly recall being unable to concentrate in any of my classes except technical drawing and industrial arts.

I had no problem running around at lunchtime and entering the class perspiring.  A favourite sport would be to run behind a football with a few hundred other boys from first to sixth forms, all hoping to kick it.  It was like a stampede, and for the whole lunch period I only managed to kick the ball two or three times, but what satisfaction each kick provided.  I suppose the satisfaction was partially derived from just playing with the 5th and 6th formers, the men of the school.

I don’t recall being ridiculed much for answering a question incorrectly, but I know that I stopped asking questions after Upper 1F, even when I desperately wanted to.  Many times I was completely out to sea but was afraid to reveal my ignorance to the girls, some of whom I found rather attractive.

To sit next to a girl who I found attractive was a pleasurable yet painful experience.  For our eyes to make contact resulted in my heart feeling as if it were literally melting, and I had to look away.  Of course nothing was learned during that class period as I struggled to keep my heart rate down.  If she would happen to talk to me, then the whole day was lost, for I was usually too shocked and afraid to respond intelligently, and spent the rest of the day rehearsing some words to tell her – although I never had the courage to.

There were some boys who seemed to have no fear of revealing their ignorance to, or conversing with the girls.  They were generally the ones who also boasted about tasting the forbidden fruit.  Having not tasted such fruit untill I was married, I now understand the confidence and boldness such fruit provides a man; however, tasting such fruit before the proper time appeared to only provide illusionary achievement for those boys.  Those boys who boasted in 2nd and 3rd form were notably absent from 5th form.  Those who boasted in 5th form were not with me in 6th form.  Those who succumbed to the temptation in 6th were not with me at University.  And those who succumbed while pursuing their Bachelor’s degree were not with me while I pursued my Masters.

The temptations were real enough.  Some girls seemed bent on provoking the boys.  In 4th and 5th form, some would walk around without bras on, which effectively negated any serious study that day or night, followed by much anxiety the following day as one hurried to school hoping for a repeat performance.

Admittedly, such temptations were also present at university, where some girls (usually arts students) seemed determined to have intimate relations.  One turned up outside my dormitory room at 3:00am scantly clad and proposed sexual intercourse; however, by this time I was emotionally mature enough to respond properly – I politely declined.  However to force boys and girls to go through puberty in a sexually explosive environment, with the sorry excuse that they must all learn to get along, is just not right.

I believe that co-education may have an appearance of success for those studying the literary arts, where the general understanding of such material requires more personal study outside of the classroom.  For one does not need to read the entire English literature or foreign language text in the classroom to grasp the meaning.  However, every fundamental of mathematics, chemistry, and physics must be grasped to understand the more advanced subject matter derived from it.  To understand the rudiments of geometry and algebra require undivided attention, and the only way that I have survived to tell the tale is that from 3rd to 5th form, I spent my summer holidays reading the assigned science text books at home.

It is my opinion that this issue of co-education, while multi-faceted, is much less complex than some are proposing.  For at the end of the day, it is about a boy going through puberty, struggling to grasp the fundamentals of algebra, with an attractive girl sitting next to him, fascinating his heightened sense with her perfume, and distracting him with her skirt raised half way up her thigh.  Do we seriously expect our lads to learn anything?

I respect the learned opinions of Dean Critchlow, former Principal Blackman, and Principal Keith Griffith, and I hope that my perspective can be of some value to the debate.  Perhaps some thought can given to segregating the classrooms in September 2000, and if this seems too bold a step, then perhaps at least the science classes can be segregated.

Permit me to offer my apologies the current students of Combermere, for if someone would have recommended segregating the classes while I was a student, I would have deemed him a spoilsport.

Foes in plenty we shall meet
Hearts courageous scorn defeat
So we press with eager feet
Up and on, up and on.
Ever upward to the fight
Ever upward to the light
Ever true to God and Right
Up and on, up and on.

I am announcing the publication of my third book: Colliding With Truth – Restoring the Lost Ministry of Recalibration.

Jesus described His two principal missions while He was on the earth:
1. to restore the Ministry of Recalibration; and
2. to establish the Ministry of Reconciliation.

The ministry of reconciling others to God is directed to those who do not know God, and has been embraced by the evangelical Church. The ministry of recalibrating traditions is directed to those who claim to know God, and its purpose is to ensure that erroneous teachings are not perpetuated. However, this ministry has generally been neglected.

Jesus recognized the vulnerability of His message to manipulation, and warned His followers about those who would try to mislead others. The harshest words spoken by Jesus appear to be reserved for religious leaders who stubbornly defended and taught their inherited traditions that conflicted with God’s commands.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte [convert], and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” (Matthew 23:13-15)

Given the dire consequences for those who defend inherited traditions that conflict with Jesus’ words, it is the responsibility of every Christian leader, parent, and convert to examine their denominational traditions prior to teaching them to others.

Colliding With Truth examines popular traditions of the church which are in conflict with the words of Jesus.  The book can be purchased Here.

Regards,

Grenville

 Every child will have to face diverse temptations. It is not a parent’s job to keep their adult children from these temptations.  However, it is a parent’s job to prepare their young children to overcome such temptations by modeling responsible behavior, and by correcting them when they stray, as they inevitably will.

A study performed on US prisons found that almost all prisoners had a bad or non-existent relationship with their fathers.  These prisoners were unprepared to manage the temptations that confront every man.  Rather than practicing to overcome such temptations when the consequences of failure were relatively mild in a family environment, they failed as adults where such consequences are severe.

As I raise my son, my heart grieves for those children who are not being fathered, and for those young adults who are not prepared to face temptations on their own.  Let me try to share some fatherly advice to those young adults who do not feel that they can overcome an addictive behavior, whether sex, drugs, alcohol, Internet pornography, gambling smoking, gluttony, etc.

Firstly, you need to understand that you can avoid becoming addicted to any type of addictive behavior by simply choosing not to engage in it.  I know that this is easier said than done. However, it is the most efficient way to live your life.

You see, there are three equally effective ways of learning life’s basic lessons:

1. by obeying responsible instructions;

2. by observing the failure of others; and

3. by experiencing the failure for yourself.

The principal difference in these methods is the time required to learn.  Once you have learned the basic lessons, you can then proceed to learn more advanced lessons.  The first method takes the least amount of time.  The second takes a bit more time.  The last may take decades.  However, those who  consistently choose the third method are destined to learn only a few lessons because we have a finite amount of time on this earth.

 Secondly, if you find yourself addicted to irresponsible behavior, then you can stop at any time – once you are serious.  Many struggle with addictions for years, principally because they are not serious – they wish to leave the door slightly open, so that they can have the option of returning to experience the pleasure that engaging in the behavior brought.

If you are a father, and you are engaging in addictive behavior, whether extra-marital sex, drugs, alcohol, Internet pornography, gambling, smoking, gluttony, etc, then unless you get serious about stopping, you are simply ensuring that your children will have to fight your unfinished battles, while being completely unprepared to do so.  Thus, you are securing their failure, and destining them to many years of failing to overcome the behavior which you refused to overcome.

 If you are serious about stopping, then let me suggest the following three steps.

Step 1 – Tell God, who knows your true intents, that you will never do the deed again.

Step 2 – Demonstrate your commitment by getting rid of and cutting yourself off from everything associated with that behavior.

Step 3 – You will be tempted often.  Choose to stop thinking about it, look away,  and spend the time that you used to spend in addictive behavior habitually doing something responsible.

You may fail subsequent temptations.  However, the difference is that you are now walking upright and going somewhere.  You may stumble and fall, but get up quickly and keep walking.  The person who is addicted stays down for a long while.

Let me recommend that you listen to the following song – it is in two parts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC6nxbu8XPM&playnext=1&list=PLA5815C60B80D7EBF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chz0K8rXkAw&feature=related

 You can also watch the dramatic presentation below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmkysRWPJHk

This one may also be useful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ewPHaPBfA

Regards,

Grenville

1.  It  conflicts with scientific evidence; and

2.  It is full of contradictions.

 Persons who challenged these assertions were rarely given an opportunity to honestly discuss their concerns with these academics, but rather, had their opinions derisively dismissed.

 Approximately 10 years ago, I felt that I had sufficient confidence in the breadth and depth of my Biblical and scientific knowledge to investigate the common assertions.  They did not stand up to rigorous scrutiny.

 Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious leaders consider themselves to be entrusted with knowledge of God’s truth as recorded in their principal religious texts.  However, what is most appalling is that such religious leaders, with limited scientific knowledge, have simply accepted the academics’ assertions in order to avoid being ridiculed for their beliefs.  Worse still, they teach their converts to accept the conflicting academics’ opinions, despite being aware of Jesus’ commandment:

 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. (Mark 9:42)

 I hereby issue an open challenge for anyone with claims of Biblical contradictions with itself and with scientific evidence to present them for discussion and scrutiny here.

 Regards,

Grenville

First, some statistics.  In the 2003 general election, the difference in votes cast for the two parties was 14,548 votes.  In the 2008 general election, it was even less; only a mere 8,819 votes determined the winner.  Currently, about 105,000 Barbadians permanently reside overseas.

If we are to assume that Barbadians who live overseas share a similar population demographic as Barbados residents, then it is likely that those Barbadians who reside overseas would be the deciding factor for Barbados elections.

Successful politicians attempt to communicate directly with those whom they wish to represent.  Door to door visits, mail out pamphlets, and mass meetings are deemed essential.  In previous elections, there was barely enough, or insufficient time during the formal campaign period to cover the local constituency.

If Barbadians overseas are allowed to vote in Barbados’ general elections, then politicians would be forced to fund costly campaigns, not only in Barbados, but also among all nations wherever Barbadians may be found in order to solicit their votes.

Currently, the technology exists where voters in various countries can be informed about candidates for elections, and view televised debates at very little cost.  In some international professional organisations, like the Institution of Structural Engineers who have approximately 23,000 members in 105 countries, the elections are managed so that all campaigning and voting is done over the Internet.

If Barbados chooses a similar fair election management system, where all voters are identified, informed about the candidates and their positions on issues, and allowed to vote regardless of their location (i.e. over the Internet), then non-resident Barbadians should be allowed to vote in Barbados’ general elections.  However, to introduce such a system before establishing the essential election management framework, is, in my opinion, ill advised.

Regards,

Grenville

Ps: I used Rihanna to embody all Barbadians who live overseas.

“I have to confess that I was flabbergasted at the fragility of the housing accommodation in Barbados.”

The Prime Minister then reportedly stated that a Building Code was “actively under consideration”.

I promised that I would no longer describe the general sub-standard nature of the residential construction industry in Barbados.  However, I have a new strategy while I patiently await the actively considered Building Code.

Properly Train Construction Supervisors

Construction supervisors (including foremen), are critical to safe buildings since they are responsible for directing good or poor quality construction practices.  Foremen directing the construction of houses  have little to guide them, since there is very little structural information on the house plans that they are normally provided.  Therefore, they must guess at the sizes of footings, beams, columns, slabs, and rafters.  They must also guess at the amount of steel reinforcement in concrete elements.

Typically, the preparation of, connections between, and bracing of structural elements is inadequate.  This results in two types of defects, those which can lead to the partial or complete collapse of a structural member, and those which can result in higher than normal maintenance requirements.  It should be noted that the cost to build an unsafe house that attracts high maintenance activities is similar to the cost of a safe and durable house.  The amount of materials does not change, but their preparation, connections, and bracing differs significantly.

A Course for Construction Supervisors

Five years ago, I developed a course for construction supervisors to address the vulnerability of houses in the Caribbean to natural hazards.   This course has been taught around the Caribbean region.  I have now accepted the post of senior lecturer at Walbrent College, where I plan to teach the course in Barbados.

The six week course for construction supervisors is open to anyone with at least 5 years of construction site experience.  Graduates who successfully complete the other core courses of ‘Estimating Labour and Materials Resources’, and ‘Managing Building Contracts’, will receive the Diploma of Walbrent College.

Courses are scheduled to be held after normal construction working hours, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm.  The next course is scheduled to start on Tuesday, 1^st February 2011.  Please contact Walbrent College at e-mail: Admin@Walbrent.com for registration information.  You can also get further details at www.Walbrent.com

The College is very accommodating to all prospective students, and a wide range of tuition payment options are available.

Who should attend?

• If you already direct construction activities and you wish to fill in any critical gaps of knowledge, then please come.
• If you want to learn how to properly direct construction activities, and you have at least 5 years of site experience, then please come.
• If you are building a house, and you want your foreman trained before he proceeds too far, then please send him/her.
• If you have a construction company and you want to have your supervisors well trained, then please send them.
• If you plan to build your house, and you do not want to be bamboozled by an unscrupulous contractor, then you may attend and receive a Certificate of Participation, rather than the Certificate of Competence.

The course will be taught using adult learning principles.  At the end of the course, supervising the safe and economical construction of durable structures should become second nature to the participants.  The ultimate beneficiaries of the College are the occupants of structures built under the supervision of its graduates.

Regards,

Grenville Phillips II BSc, BEng, MASc, MURP, CEng, FIStructE, FCIHT, MAPM, MCSCE, MBAPE

Fellow, Institution of Structural Engineers

On 4 January 2010, Mara Thompson formally entered the ‘race’ by paying her deposit at the Treasury.  I do not think that anyone in Barbados expects her to lose.

I have closed the poll, which indicates that approximately 40% of those who participated thought that she should enter the ‘race’, and 60% thought that she should not.

End Update.

Perhaps I have reached a hope stage of grief, but if there is one issue in Barbados upon which Barbadians agree, it is that Mara should run.  The issue which divides us is whether she should run to, or from the responsibilities associated with replacing her late husband as the parliamentary representative for St John.  One thing is certain, having both father and husband as politicians, Mara is well prepared to count the cost of this pursuit.

Politicians eat their young

She must be aware that there are no long-term allegiances or logic to the behaviour of politicians. They can be in favour and out of favour with each other with rapidity.  Politicians in opposition deemed a former Prime Minister as highly incompetent and responsible for mismanaging the economy.  However, when they regained power, they facilitated him being knighted as a role model for us to emulate.

Politicians in cabinet deemed a former opposition leader as utterly useless in economic matters.  However, when he crossed the floor, they embraced him as a useful economic advisor.  Politicians appear to delight in damaging the reputations of persons with whom they disagree.  Therefore, Mara should run as fast and as far as she can from this type of political behaviour.

Barbados deserves better

At this stage of our development, Barbadians deserve significantly better representation in Parliament.  We deserve to hear our representatives honestly discussing the policy issues which affect us, rather than hearing them recite proposals that they appear not to understand, and cleverly attacking each other, and damaging the reputation of individuals and businesses with whom they perceive to be associated with their political opponents.

Mara is a stateswoman

Mara has consistently carried herself as a stateswoman for decades.  It is her choice whether to maintain that status, or to descend from it.  If she chooses to remain above the political mire, then her status as a stateswoman is maintained.  She can maintain her status by entering elective politics, and enunciating and defending her opinions without negatively speaking about those with whom she may disagree.

To my knowledge, Mara has no Caribbean role models to guide her.  Her political advisors only know the ‘cut and thrust’ of politics, the damaging use of political invective and innuendo, and the singular focus of getting re-elected at all costs.

At this point in our nation’s history, Mara is uniquely qualified to lead us out of this messy political environment into a responsible and enlightened type of governance.  Our parliament will not be accustomed to having a states-person in their midst, and will have to adjust.  Regardless of whether she is ignored, attacked, or emulated, I believe that Barbados can only benefit from her representation.  What do you think?  Please participate in the following poll.

Related article: Statesmen are preferred over politicians

David attended Combermere School 1972. I followed in 1975. As a senior student, David would care for those in the surrounding community, even convincing the headmaster to allow the boys in the community to use the school’s facilities. During his political career, David meaningfully cared for his St John constituents, and shielded the reputation of his friends and political colleagues from damage, by choosing to be the lighting rod that attracted some of the most damaging political invective. Having been the recipient of such public invective once, for simply suggesting that higher professional standards should be reclaimed by the public sector, I cannot imagine the cumulative effect of receiving it for 14 years. Yet he willingly accepted it, and did not appear to reciprocate.

I do not believe that David should have died from cancer at 48 years old, but he did. Following his death, every commentator that I have heard has accused our loving heavenly Father of taking our Prime Minister. I do not think that such accusations are fair.

It may be too late for me

Despite my change in eating habits (see my last article for details), I must face the possibility that it may be too late for me. Whenever I fall off of the proverbial wagon, and eat what I should not, then I feel the familiar pain in my head and I am reminded that my death is just around the corner. I have accepted that I may succumb to crippling diabetes, chronic heart disease, or painful cancer, because I have poisoned my body for decades. Why would I do such a stupid thing? I did so in ignorance – just like you probably did. Let me explain.

Food science is a discipline that should never have been allowed to leave the universities, because it lacked sufficient knowledge about food, and its complex interaction with our bodies, to make conclusive pronouncements. These pronouncements have influenced the manufacture of processed foods with disastrous, including fatal results for mankind.

Few sought to verify the assumptions upon which food scientists based their most damaging conclusive statements. The institutions that were responsible for protecting consumers from harmful food products chose to protect the food scientists from criticism, by attributing the consumers’ ill-health and deaths to factors other than the obvious culprits.

Did God take me?

When I go to the great beyond, the religious leader(s) conducting my funeral event may try to comfort those in attendance by claiming that God took me. While I yet have control over my faculties, let me declare that unless you see a chariot of fire descend from the heavens to take me home, or some other dramatic exit, then do not repeat such nonsense. God took Enoch, Elijah and Moses. God gave me a body, but I poisoned it with a steady diet of processed products over the past 40 years, and I would have simply reaped the consequences of my actions. God will receive me, for I am His, but He did not take me (unless you see the blazing chariot as previously described), rather, I was deceived into believing that carefully disguised poison was food.

One example should suffice. People have been eating whole foods and animal products for thousands of years. Approximately a century ago, food scientists claimed that butter was bad for us and synthetic margarine, loaded with the artery clogging, and potentially cancer and diabetes producing trans-fat, was a healthy alternative. The food processors did not verify any of the incorrect assumptions on which food scientists based their dangerous claims. Neither did the government regulatory agencies. So the supermarkets sold this poison as food.

I have learned, albeit too late, that government regulators and supermarkets do not acknowledge their ‘gate-keeper’ responsibility to protect us from harmful ‘foods’; and the medical community does not protect us from the food scientists’ irresponsible claims. Actually, the only beneficiaries for feeding us disguised poison appear to be:

• Food scientists, who remain employed to make further claims when their previous ones are inevitably found to be false;
• Food manufacturers and supermarket owners, who profit by deceiving consumers that they are offering them healthy products;
• Doctors, who have a steady supply of clients to treat, rather than cure; and
• Religious leaders who mislead the bereaved by blaming God rather than the steady diet of poison sold by the supermarket, approved by the Government, and manufactured by greedy individuals who fund the food scientists’ research that sanction their products.

When it is my time to go, please do not blame my Lord. We should accept our basic responsibility of  maintaining our bodies in good health.

So what can you do? As a rule of thumb, if your ‘food’ packaging lists ‘high fructose corn syrup’, or ‘partially hydrogenated oil’ as an ingredient, then either toss the product it in the garbage and ‘go and sin no more’, or put your house in order. I urge you to follow the suggestions in ‘Principles of Good Health’ – the information is free, but the decision to eat responsibly requires fortitude, and the action to carry it out requires discipline. It is now up to you.

Regards,

Grenville

I have deliberately waited until after his funeral to share what has been on my mind for the past month, for while I cannot help David, I may be able to help those of you who remain.  I shall try to approach the subject gingerly.

Saved from certain death

Food provides us with, inter alia, energy to work, nutrients and other components to keep us healthy, and pleasure.  The most beneficial parts of our food decomposes sometime after the food is harvested.  Whole foods are most beneficial to us when they are eaten fresh.

The modern food industry aims to extend the shelf-life of our food, and they do this by processing it – hence, the term ‘processed food’.  Food is generally processed by, inter alia, destroying the beneficial component that decomposes rapidly, and adding chemical preservatives and other unhealthy additives to the remainder.

If we could really see what we actually eat, perhaps, we would not consciously decide to harm our bodies.  Approximately one decade ago, I visited Dr Babb at the Sir Winston Scott Polyclinic to request a CAT scan, because I was experiencing pain in my skull.  She ordered a set of tests, and called me in for the results.  She essentially told me to change my eating habits or order a casket because I would likely be dead within one year.  She then directed me to the polyclinic’s nutritionist, Dr Mark Alleyne, and told me to get a massage.

I obeyed her completely; but I needed her blunt presentation of my options to force me to confront what I was habitually doing to my body.  Perhaps I can help you in a similar manner.

A recent review of the contents of the major supermarkets in Barbados tends to suggest that we actually eat a bowl of diabetes in the morning, a plate of cancer for lunch, and a dish of heart disease for dinner.  Statistics on diseases tend to suggest that the results of this diet are manifested in our bodies in approximately 40 years.  If you are mainly eating processed food, and you are over 40 years old, then you are living on borrowed time my friend.  Better put your house in order.

What should you do now?  I urge you to read ‘Principles of Healthy Diets’, which I have hyper linked for your convenience.  It should take you less than 10 minutes, and it may just save your life.

If you have the time, you can also read the evidence in Dr Price’s invaluable original research, which is recorded in his book ‘Nutrition and Physical Degeneration‘.  Both publications are free.  No more excuses.  Live long and prosper.

Regards,

Grenville

Claims of truth should always be entertained and honestly examined with rigorous scrutiny.  If the claim is found to be true, then it can only enhance our body of knowledge and benefit mankind.  If the claim is found to be false, then the consequences of a blunder can be avoided.

Blunder number 1

The first blunder occurred approximately 1,400 years ago when Church leaders refused to honestly examine Mohammed’s claims of truth.   For 9 years, Mohammed preached a message that was similar to that of Jesus.  He encouraged his followers to believe in the One God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, believe the Biblical Old Testament Prophets, believe that Jesus is the Christ, believe the Gospel, and copy and distribute books of the Bible to other nations without compensation.

Mohammed did not appear to intend to start a new religion.  Rather, he seemed to want to start a Christian denomination with traditions which he considered to be more sustainable than those which he observed.  Therefore, in addition to believing and following the words of Jesus, he instructed his followers to: pray 5 times per day, fast, give to charity, and to congregate in Mecca at least once in their lifetime in order to ensure that their traditions were consistent with the truth.

Mohammed held discussions with numerous Christian religious leaders, but he was not accepted.  Therefore, Islam developed into an adversarial religion whose adherents are taught to ignore Mohammed’s explicit instructions. According to the Bible, Jesus defined eternal life as belief in One God and in Jesus as the Messiah.  The Qur’an instructs Muslims to believe in the One and only God, and identifies Jesus as the Christ.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)

If Christians followed the Bible and Muslims followed the Qur’an, then there would be no theological differences between them, only cultural.  A Muslim who believes the Qur’an is a Christian, and a Christian who believes the Qur’an is a Muslim.  However, the Qur’an does not require Christians to read the Qur’an, only the Gospel.  See BrothersKeptApart.com for further details.

For the past 1,300 years, Christians and Muslims have been kept apart because of their assumption that there are irreconcilable differences between the Bible and the Qur’an.  However, neither group appears to be willing to verify this assumption, instead preferring to declare that the other has been misled.

Blunder number 2

The second blunder was the response to Darwin’s theory of evolution.  Darwin had published ‘Origin of Species’ in 1859, where he proposed a likely explanation for the differences that he had observed within various species.  He supported his explanation with compelling evidence.  Therefore, his explanation for the differences within species can be considered a scientific theory.

From this rather solid base, Darwin applied his theory to propose an explanation for the differences between different species.  In reaching his conclusion, Darwin noted that his proposition required many generations of intermediate forms to be created before the appearance of a new species. He acknowledged that the evidence to support his views was not yet found in the fossil record, but he expected that the intermediate forms would be found following more extensive anthropological and geological excavations.

Darwin concluded that the discovery of abrupt appearances of species, without the gradual changes of modifications, would be fatal to his views.  See Evolution in the Balance for details.  During the time that Darwin published his views, scientific debate on the origin of species was dominated by the idea that God had separately created each species and that they did not vary. This idea was popular and generally accepted by his society.  Rather than honestly discuss Darwin’s ideas, he was scorned for challenging ideas that were generally accepted by his society.

Today, scientific debate on the origin of species is dominated by Darwin’s ideas, which are popular and generally accepted in western society.  Scorn is still reserved for those who challenge popular ideas.  The fossil records discovered to date show the abrupt appearances of species, without the gradual changes.  Despite the fact that Darwin’s stated fatal flaw has been realized, teachers continue to assume, and teach, that the evidence for evolution across species is as compelling as it is for evolution within species.

Conclusions

Hindsight vision is said to be 20/20.  This principle of hindsight should restrain students of history from unfairly condemning those who made blunders in the past.  However, while we can do nothing to change history, we can do something to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not perpetuated.  Therefore, Christian religious leaders should honestly examine the Qur’an before continuing their tradition of condemning it, and teachers need to honestly examine the evidence for evolution across species, before continuing the tradition of claiming that compelling supporting evidence exists.

Does Barbados Have a Building Code?

Since the criminal act of 3 September 2010, building designers, government regulators, and politicians have identified the absence of a national building code as the principal reason for the deaths.  The Nation Newspaper editorial of 7th September 2010 also identified the principal reason for the deaths as “the sad lack of a national building code.”

For the record, the Barbados National Building Code (BNBC) was published in Draft form in 1992, and given to potential users for comment.  The cover states “DRAFT August 1992” in the top right corner.

After comments had been received, it was published as a final document in 1993.  For the past 17 years, the Barbados National Standards Institution (BNSI) has been selling the current edition of the Code for $100, for use by building designers, contractors, and Government regulators, including the Barbados Fire Service.

For the past 17 years, successive Government administrations have not made the enforcement of Barbados’ documented national building standards a priority. However, that does not absolve building designers, contractors, and regulators from their primary obligation to ensure that buildings under their authority are safe.  Barbados’ standards of structural and fire safety are defined in the current edition of the Barbados National Building Code.

Building standards are dynamic documents, and with use, are continuously being updated.  Sometimes errata are issued advising users of the updates.  When errata are inconvenient, due to the volume of changes required, then new editions of the standards are issued.  However, until a new edition is published, users should always use the current edition.  The BNSI is currently working on a new edition of the BNBC.

What Authority Does the Fire Chief Have?

The most voluminous section of the Code is Part 3 – the Fire Safety section.  It provides sufficient information to designers of new buildings in Barbados to significantly reduce the occupant’s risk of harm from fire.  It also provides sufficient information and authority to the Barbados Fire Service, to check the fire safety of existing buildings in Barbados, in order to significantly reduce the occupant’s risk of harm from fire.

The BNBC does not yet have the force of law that would give the Barbados Fire Service the authority to enforce the Fire Safety part of the Code.  Neither does the Fire Service act (CAP 163) give the Chief Fire Officer the authority to enter a private property to advise on, or enforce fire safety requirements.  Therefore, what can the Chief Fire Officer do?

Whenever I have asked the Barbados Fire Service to inspect large buildings and advise on their fire safety, they have responded.  They have always sent knowledgeable persons who have provided useful advice.  Such inspections have rarely exceeded 20 minutes.

If a fire officer could be assigned to visit commercial buildings in Barbados, and advise on their fire safety, I do not think that any business owner would refuse to grant access.  Therefore, the enactment of new laws to provide the threat of penalties for enforcing access is unnecessary.

Assuming that one fire officer can inspect eight properties each day in Bridgetown (at a rate of one per hour), then what is exacerbating to me, is that over 35,000 properties could have been inspected in the past 17 years – had the Chief Fire Officer been aware that our building standards were no longer in draft form, but was a final document that was being sold by the Government of Barbados for their use.

Blaming the Fire Chief

Do I blame the Chief Fire Officer for this lack of knowledge?  Of course not!  Why not?  Because if building designers, contractors, politicians, government regulators, and press reporters in Barbados have been insisting, for the past 17 years, that the Barbados National Building Code was only a draft document and not to be followed, and I alone am claiming that it is a final document, sold by the BNSI to be used, then history has shown that people tend to believe the majority opinion.  History has also shown that at critical junctures, where the consequences of being wrong were fatal, then the majority opinion tended to be on the opposite side of the truth.

Grenville Phillips II

Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers

The 1992 edition of Barbados’ national building standards was published in the same year that Shanna and Pearl were born.  By that time, Tiffany Harding, Nikita Belgrave and Kelly-Ann Welch were in primary school in Barbados and Kellisha Olliviere is assumed to have been in primary school in her native St Vincent.

By the time Shanna and Pearl were one year old, the 1993 edition of the Code was published to be actively used by building designers, contractors, and the Barbados Fire Service.  For the past 17 years as Shanna and Pearl attended primary and then secondary school, the Barbados National Building Code had been sold by the Barbados National Standards Institution for $100.

The most voluminous section of the Code is Part 3 – the Fire Safety section.  It provides sufficient information to designers of new buildings in Barbados to significantly reduce the risk of harm to occupants from fire.  It also provides sufficient authority and information to the Barbados Fire Service to check the fire safety of existing buildings in Barbados in order to significantly reduce the risk of harm to occupants from fire.

Of course, I expect to hear the tired excuses that it is still a draft document, and that it is not formally part of the Laws of Barbados.  Let me re-confirm that the 1993 edition of the Barbados National Building Code is not in draft form, but has been sold as a final document for use by building designers, contractors, and regulators for the past 17 years.  Just because successive administrations have not enforced the Building Code does not relieve designers, builders, and regulators from their responsibilities of using it.

The criminal act that resulted in mass casualties in Barbados last Friday night is shocking. Also shocking are the reported statements by the Chief Fire Officer about a draft building code, and by the Attorney General about hanging.  If the Barbados Fire Service has neglected to use the Barbados National Building Code to ensure that buildings are safe for occupants, because of their mistaken belief that it is still in a draft form, then that is exacerbating.  If this does not qualify as a hanging offence, then what will?

These are not war-time dead. They are the consequences of leaders who generally believed that the only way to remain in control was to kill anyone whom they interpreted as political threats. In most cases, other national leaders simply watched the slaughter and did nothing useful to help the oppressed – since it was not in their national interest to intervene.  The killings normally stopped upon the death of the national despotic leader.

Perhaps it is useful to note that in the last century, approximately 40 million soldiers have been marched to their deaths on the orders of a few individuals. This action has resulted in the consequential deaths of approximately 20 million civilians.  Therefore, war appears to have had a lesser impact on civilian misery than a despot or tyrannical government.  What appears to restrain a national leader with despotic tendencies is the threat of armed resistance.

In Barbados, there are four categories of armed personnel: the military, the police, a few private citizens, and criminals.  When the Grenadian military executed the civilian leadership, murdered civilians, and assumed power, the police did not stop them.  They were stopped by the US military, with a coalition of willing Caribbean countries.  Why was there this departure of nations simply observing the oppression from afar, and offering nothing but the token and meaningless UN resolutions for an end to the conflict?  The difference was that the Governor General requested help.

To whom can the citizens of the republics of Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago appeal to should a despotic leader emerge?  The sad truth is that they can call on no-one but their tyrannical government.  They have disposed of the only person with standing, who could have appealed to other countries for military intervention to remove their despot.

We do not know when our turn will come.  Most developing countries are only one election-cycle away from electing a despot.  Caribbean civilians are generally unarmed and therefore vulnerable to being oppressed by a tyrant.  However, like Grenada, most English speaking countries in the Caribbean can be assured of a realistic hope of military relief.  Barbados, like Grenada, still maintains a Governor General who has standing to legally request outside military assistance.

History has shown that this critical ‘hope of the oppressed’ is generally futile for citizens living in countries that have chosen a republic type of government.  With this knowledge, why would a nation’s citizens, who have everything to lose, and nothing to gain from such a change, choose to take away from their children the one thing that can restrain a future despot – the realistic threat of force?

If the citizens of Barbados choose to replace their current constitutional monarchical system with a republic type of Government, then let us not choose a model that leaves our children vulnerable to a despot.  Rather, let us choose a model like the USA, where its citizens are given the constitutional right to bear arms in order to resist a tyrannical leader.

Regards,

Grenville

Major national disasters, that test the built environment, can be viewed as opportunities to significantly improve national building practices.  These opportunities exist in every country, regardless of its level of development. 

When major earthquakes occur in any country in this world, we normally observe significant damage to older masonry and concrete buildings, whether they are schools, libraries, offices, churches, or houses.  We also observe less damage to recently constructed commercial buildings that would have benefited directly or indirectly from structural engineering services.  That is exactly what we seem to observe in Haiti, and it is exactly what we would expect to observe in London, Paris, New York, Madrid, Toronto, or Bridgetown.

The following are relatively  recently constructed multi-storey buildings that survived. 

Th following are older masonry and reinforced concrete buildings, and houses that were severely damaged.

During my deployment, I was surprised by the frequent attempts to associate the Haitian engineers with the damaged buildings, rather than with the recently constructed commercial buildings that survived.  I have not read of any attempts to link engineers with any of the damaged structures from the earthquakes in California, hurricanes in Florida, floods in Europe, the tsunami in Indonesia, and even the recent earthquake in Chile.  Why this apparent double standard?

 Why is there this effort to link Haitian engineers to the failed buildings which were unlikely to have received their structural engineering services.  Why this effort to show them as less-than-competent before international funding agencies and aid agencies, despite the fact that most buildings that appeared to have been designed by structural engineers did survive?

A reasonable explanation of this evidence is greed.  With approximately US$9B in development aid expected, a strategy of discrediting Haitian, and by extension, Caribbean based Engineers can ensure that they are never trusted with any primary design role in the reconstruction phase.  If this is a strategy that is  being employed, then it can partially explain why the group of qualified Caribbean based volunteer structural engineers have yet to be deployed.

UNOPS had expressed their concerns about the competence of the engineers being deployed by the various agencies in Haiti.  This was not surprising, since most, if not all, of those deployed by these agencies were unlikely to have the relevant experience of ever designing a building for the multiplicity of hazards experienced in the Caribbean.  The problem for Caribbean based engineers is the false perception that a North American, European, or Asian based engineer is intrinsically more qualified.

Let me conclude with some recommendations.  Engineers should not be deployed to disaster regions to displace the local engineers, but rather, to assist them where necessary.  Since the local engineers are the principal stewards of their country’s built environment, those deployed should try to improve the level of local design and construction practices.  There is a time and place for everything.  There will come a time for competitively tendering for work, but the critical relief phase is not that time.

Let me endorse Jesus’ recommendation that we should always treat others the way that we would want to be treated.  Let me also recommend the following approach by Lao Tzu.

Go to the people.

Live among them.

Learn from them.

Love them.

Start with what they know.

Build on what they have.

But of the best leaders,

When their task is accomplished,

When their work is done,

The people all remark

“We have done this ourselves”. 

Regards,

Grenville

 The Haitian student’s experience will be like that of attending a boarding school, with the exception that the student will board with a responsible host family.  This exercise can have a profound meaningful impact upon the students who will be immersed in a culture without the distractions of the levels of corruption, violence, and poverty to which they were accustomed.  Haiti should benefit developmentally from Barbados’ investment in the Haitian students, and Barbados can benefit from the cultural exchange.

 Barbados should be able to afford this type of investment, since most of the funds raised to support the Haitian students need not be converted to foreign currency, but can be spent in Barbados.  Perhaps some consideration can be given to using the funds already collected by Churches, schools, other social groups, corporations, and the Government, in this manner.

 Regards,

Grenville