...this is the right time for Bahamians to do better

Resolving to Do Better
The Bahama Journal Editorial



As this opens on a truly bloody note, some of our people yet stand, pray and hope for the coming of a better day; and for sure, some of these people have made it their sworn resolve to do their part in making this a reality.

We so swear.

Sadly, some others can be expected to do as they always have; which is that they will carry on as if there was no tomorrow. And so, barring some miracle, there will remain that primordial struggle between good and evil.

For our part, we would like to have a situation where more Bahamians could come to see the wisdom in so comporting themselves - that they – quite literally - love their neighbors as they love themselves.

Were they to move in this direction – that is of forging a greater sense of community- they would see to it that this great little nation that is ours would love and care for all its children; take care of their elders and otherwise work to make this place safer and healthier.

Evidently, things are today tending in the direction of disaster.

This trend can and should be reversed.

Yet again, this requires purposeful action.

And so we would dare suggest that Bahamians should – as Booker T. Washington once suggested – put their buckets down wherever they happen to be.

As a consequence, then, when it comes to schooling, we would like to see a situation where schools are put on a path where they can act in place of the parent; thus gearing themselves to really being and becoming places of respite and civility – incubators of a new and better Bahamas; this instead of the brutal spaces that some have become in these hard times.

Indeed, when we reference how Bahamians might wish to become more introspective, attentive should also be put on the way we worship, how we serve and the witness we bring – as believers- to the challenge of living in a time and in a place where sin and crime abound.

And for sure, here we must reference the stark contrast between the adornment of certain places of worship and the social degradation that is to be found on some of our nation’s main thoroughfares –some of them places where the hungry, the demented and the homeless wander about as so much human riff-raff.

This is an abomination.

Indeed, we would also mention – in the same vein- that there are circumstances and situations where wealth and poverty obscenely cavort; with the rich and the powerful very often oblivious to the sad situation facing some of their countrymen.

Yet again, there can and should be some resolve for those who have eyes to see, to do just that: open their eyes to the poverty and distress around them.

As true too is the fact that some of our fellow-Bahamians are today ill as a result of choices they have made. But chosen or not, these people still need assistance. And for sure, there can and should be some resolve in the coming year for them to get the help they need so that they could keep body and soul together.

Here take note that even as we note that people should take some major part in their own struggles, we note also that – as social animals - human beings must rely on others – whether these others happen to be family, neighbors or friends.

And just as true happens to be the fact that once an administration is sworn in, it is obliged – under the law – to govern in a true and good manner on behalf of all the people.

With this as guiding principle, then, there should be in the year that is ahead some resolve on the part of those who would lead to go beyond what seems to be a built in tendency towards tribalism and a winner-take all mentality in how we run things.

Such a resolve should imply that matters that are social in nature –like crime - should not be so treated that they become political footballs; with name-calling and finger pointing thrown in for good measure.

And yet again – as far as resolutions go- some major effort must be undertaken to so overhaul the nation’s criminal justice system that when people are charged for them to be brought to justice sooner rather than later.

Evidently, here resolve must be matched by requisite action. And for sure, if there are costs that must be made, Bahamians must resolve – as a people- to pay for whatever they get.

In the absence of such a commitment, they would be doing little more than wishing and hoping on a dream.

In truth, this is the right time for Bahamians to do better.

They should and they can.

January 27, 2011

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Bahamas Blog International