BARBADIANS NEED to stop being satisfied with a 50 per cent achievement.
This was one of the messages which entertainer and motivational speaker McDonald Fingall delivered last Friday during the National Insurance Scheme’s (NIS) GEM Awards ceremony at the National Insurance Office on Culloden Road, St Michael.
Fingall, a former teacher, said Barbadians had a “50 per cent mentality”, being satisfied with such an achievement after having been told in primary schools that 50 per cent was “a pass mark”.
However, he said Barbadians needed to aim higher, declaring that a 50 per cent achievement meant the student did not know 50 per cent of the test.
He listed hard work, a positive attitude and confidence as some of the elements needed by people searching for excellence.
He charged that Barbadians were “lacking in confidence”, while Jamaicans believed in themselves, as demonstrated by the world’s leading sprinter Usain Bolt.
This lack of confidence was “like a disease”, to the point where Barbadians did not even like the products the country produced, Fingall complained.
It caused heavy use of foreign exchange on beer imports, even though Barbados had some of the best water in the world for making the product and every local beer purchased helped to keep Bajans employed, he said.
Fingall also suggested Barbadians stop looking to blame someone or something for their problems and to seek solutions.
He also said that in this time of economic crisis they must be prepared to make sacrifices, rather than let history record them as a people who “rolled over and died”.
The awards ceremony was part of the NIS week of activities to observe the agency’s 47th anniversary.
At the ceremony, Minister of Labour Dr Esther Byer Suckoo praised National Insurance Department workers and urged them to “continue to be model workers” for all of Barbados.
Information technology support specialist Ryan Eastmond was named Academic Achiever Of The Year. Awards were also presented to more than 25 people with ten to 40 years of service. (TY)