14809: Durban on Restaveks and Development (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com>

Buried in the recent discussion on slavery/restaveks, Regi
Chevalier made a comment that bears repeating.  He notes:

  I've always pondered if the notion: "OUR CHILDREN ARE OUR
  FUTURE" applies to our country. I guess not.  No wonder
  our future always looks bleak.

Culture is something that builds over time and passes along from
generation to generation, imperceptible to most of us who live
it and are part of it.  Yet, I would argue that development is
simply a series of small steps, each generation starting from
where the previous one left off... and of course each family's
generational timeframe starts at a different time, a different
year, further blurring the continuous progress or lack thereof.
The word "development" in the previous sentence can refer to the
development of a single family OR the development of a country
(large group of families).

Taken in this light, how you treat your children in not merely a
humanitarian gesture, but a critical element in a country's
development... cultural, social, economic.  And might this help
explain Haitian's inability to get on the development fast track
in the last 200 years?....

Lance Durban