Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: We are talking to the minister in the ministry of Housing, a gentleman known as Mr. Arnold, the Honorable Arnold Roberts. Good morning to you, Honorable Minister.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Good morning. Good morning, Good morning. It's nice to be here. I was saying good afternoon because I've been in the ministry since 5:30, but it's nice to be here.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: I mean it. The media background that you come from, I was waiting to hear that apart. And then I hear 24 cents an hour to swim. I'm like, whoa. So you're a very avid swimmer?
[00:00:37] Speaker A: Well, I was a national swimmer from 1978 to 1987 and then became an Olympic coach. I was coaching and doing law at the same time. And while I would have lectures with Paula May Weeks when she was a lecturer back in 1992, 93, I would find myself at the swim pool with the athletes, enjoying myself and being late for lectures. So I eventually decided that's where my heart was. Even though since we were born all we knew about was law. My mother is a lawyer, father is a lawyer, two brothers, a sister, lawyers, and my son is a lawyer. But so it was a big battle with, you know, because you also had to deal with issues of self esteem. Was I letting down my parents? You know, swimming was not a profession, it was a hobby. At the time there were no professional coaches.
My older brother had been the perfect son. Oxford, Harvard and so on.
My. Was I letting down my parents? Was I good enough? You would go through these questions and my mother looked at me eventually when she gave up the argument and said, if you're going to be a swimming coach, then you've got to be the highest qualified in the world and one of the best in the world. She just wanted performance.
So from then she supported me fully and I moved swimming from a hobby to level five senior, the highest level in the world. So I'm letting the children know that because sometimes something is just not for you. And you are the only one as an individual who knows where your heart is, your passion, what you want to work at. So you just have to follow the principles of punctuality, courtesy, respect, discipline and hard work. So whatever field it is, even if it doesn't have a high remuneration right now, you can transform it into that. Make a life and enjoy your work.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Honorable Minister, I always say, and I tell my listeners on the morning show when I'm hosting, that if I had followed the direction that I was studying in school, I would have not been where I am today. I would have been a renowned architect designing buildings and floor plans and house plans. But the thing about it is, this is where we are. I did not think at one day I'll become a media practitioner and be out in the field. But the thing about it is, when I saw you this morning, I felt very happy to see you because at the end of the day, this is a you Health and wellness exposition. And I wonder to myself, this is the minister in the Ministry of Housing. But then when you mounted the platform and you delivered your speech, I felt humbled. I remember somebody saying to me in the audience, hey, look, your minister. And by the time you were finished speaking, they said to me, that's my minister. And then everybody was like, that's our minister right behind the media booth there. So the thing about it is, the message was powerful. You mentioned mental health. What can you tell our listening audience and freedom about mental health? That you are aware of foolish conflict.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: Foremost, we have to take away the stigma about mental health. That it is something wrong with you. It's not your mind. Your brain controls everything about you. The way you walk, the way you run, the way you think, the way you recover, your immune system, your organs. So the brain requires the most attention.
So we have it historically that if someone needs to talk to a psychologist, for example, well, they must be a madman.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Yes, I heard you say that, and I felt moved. Yes, the backdoor secrecy.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: Backdoor secrecy is nonsense. All of us go through these things, but we are taught that if you ask for help, if you talk, that you're a weakling, that you're a mama pool, that you're soft, it's not so. We need assistance. Just like you go to a gym and you get a trainer to pump your, give your workouts, make you do plank, get your abs and so on. Your brain needs work and needs someone who understands that the brain is the most complex organ. So it should require more help. Plus, our society puts tenets on us that tries to make us all the same. How you dress. I would not dress how anybody else else dresses. That's their own style and individuality. We are all individuals. As a coach, I cannot coach George Bovell the same way I would coach.
Each is different, so you have to understand your differences. We have to identify the stresses that society brings on, especially young people. Identify it. We need more social workers who qualified. In schools, all teachers should do psychology courses, should refresh themselves to look for signs of stress and pressure, because we cannot allow one child to go into that dark place to commit suicide or to hurt themselves. We have to be aware every time that happens. It means that our system has failed. So we want our system to catch whether it is Montessori school, primary school, sports clubs, coaches, music teachers, lessons teachers. We have to look at, identify problems. We believe that parents know everything. But as a coach who has coached over 700 children, I've seen parents make terrible mistakes. Mistakes that harm their children.
Mental health is serious.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: Honorable Minister, I want to thank you very much for taking a moment. It's always a pleasure when I bounce up my colleague. Boy, I remember. I mean, it's back in 2008. The memories come back when we first bounce hands.
Yes, but you're here. And congratulations again for attaining the position that you are in the Minister As a minister in Ministry of Housing. Congratulations on your party success at the polls. Congratulations all the same. With that being said, we take it back to studio. Thank you very much. The honorable Minister in the Ministry of Housing Minister, the honorable Anna Roberts Tosco. It's back to you.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability the all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5.
