Friday Musings
Two major changes in ‘globalization’ logistics have hit the deck. Globalization has become a fashion contest; and to be in it is to be ‘hip’. Globalization is no longer a standalone operation; Globalization has become wedded to economic integration, not political and social integration.
I AM sure there will be a lot of shouting of support from different groups of backers for the girls in tomorrow night’s Miss Universe Guyana pageant, but I want to join in shouting out some of them before.

There was much to shout about when they appeared on the question and answer segment broadcast live on NCN TV Wednesday night, although there were some howlers among the responses.

But that’s the nature of the game – participants sometimes lose their cool in such contests and whatever they want to say comes out the wrong way. The tongue gets tangled and the right words just seem to vanish.

I join in a big shout out for the NCN crew that seemed to be right on the ball in the live broadcast. There were few flaws and the file footage from the bikini wear segment was a treat in between the on-screen appearances by the contestants for the questions and answers.

(See NCN? I give praise where praise is due, and it’s not just because it is about girls in a beauty contest. Take a bow!)

Enrico Woolford and Cathy Hughes did a fine job in trying to get the best out of the girls, even helping to guide them through their nervous and anxious moments.

Some emerged well from the session but it’s up to the judges and not me to publicly say who stood out and who can go on to do well by being a fine ambassador for Guyana at the Miss Universe pageant in The Bahamas later this month.

I couldn’t help smiling though at the boldness and firmness of the contestant who wants to be a criminal prosecutor and had no qualms about police and military officers shooting criminals trying to escape from the law.

While she believes in due process under the law, she feels suspects in crime have no right trying to escape from law enforcers and it’s too bad if they are shot while trying to flee. Her frankness was endearing.

But I wonder what the cynics about Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy feel though about so many of the contestants taking the initiative as their platform for the pageant?

Some people in some circles have been trying to dis the thrust to transform Guyana’s economy on to a low carbon trajectory by using the model to save its standing forests in the service of climate change and getting paid for the services.

Some claim it’s all futuristic but the fact that contestants in a national beauty contest have joined the bandwagon speaks volumes about its appeal across the nation.

And judging from some of the answers in that show, most aren’t just pandering to a popular cause and seem to have a firm grasp about what it’s all about, even though some people have argued that the LCDS is much too technical a concept to be understood by the population at large.

Despite all the bad mouthing about Guyana by some leaders and others in the Caribbean and elsewhere, this country is a beautiful place – sometimes incomparable beyond words.

It’s our job to help keep it beautiful and it’s a joy to behold when some of our beauties rally to the cause.

Saving forests may seem to be mundane but throw in some bikini-clad beauties along the creeks, rivers, waterfalls and other places of comfort and see what a difference it makes.
Let’s hear it for the forest savers!