Lawlessness it seems has permeated all levels of Bahamian society. Whether the Nassau Village riot can be attributed to a conflict with members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force I cannot say but what is clear is that the average person is not going to have any regard for the law when they perceive what I shall call the higher ups as getting away with crimes.
Where are the leaders of the nation the men and women for the youth to emulate? Sadly it appears as though they have either all died or no longer exist. I have looked around the political, religious, business and civic arenas and I am hard pressed to identify people who don’t have rumors of some sort associated with them.
I get daily Bible verses via the Internet and the one for Thursday seems appropriate.
‘To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market place and calling to one another, ‘We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.’ Luke 7:31-35
I’m sure that this has some deeper religious meaning, but as I am not in a position to decipher it I choose to think it is about the failure of men to take a stand and behave accordingly.
I’m sure you are wondering where I’m going? Maybe I’m wondering myself, what is the point of all of this? The point is I am so disappointed with our church leaders and our politicians. They have all failed and miserably I might add to set the example and in their failure we find a field to harvest contempt which I see as the root cause of incidents like we experienced last Wednesday and Thursday.
I am reminded of a story I heard some years ago from a priest during a sermon. He told of how he asked a group of young boys who they most wanted to be like and was expecting to hear Michael Jordan or the like. What surprised him was when the young man said he wanted to be like Sean Isaacs because he was in control as he had the money and the women.
When Bishop Green was head of the Christian Council he was adamant about speaking out against homosexuality, gay marriage and the consequences of allowing the same in The Bahamas. Although as I said then and still believe now his comments were off base and misguided nonetheless he took a stand.
Where was that same passion however when it came to denouncing the actions of Leslie Miller, Bradley Roberts, Sidney Stubbs or even Ron Pinder. At least with Mr. Pinder he made what appears to be a sincere apology.
Now what I find amazing is that it was the Ron Pinder incident that elicited a strong response from Bishop Neil Ellis, not that what Bishop Ellis said wasn’t correct but where was he when it came to commenting about the more egregious acts of members of the government. For that matter where were the other members of the cloth.
With the exception of Archbishop Drexel Gomez I don’t remember anyone of the other leading clergymen commenting. I could be mistaken but there was certainly no statement from the Christian Council, the Catholic Diocese, the Baptist, the Methodist or the churches with large memberships like Bahamas Faith Ministries or Golden Gates Assembly. Until Bishop Ellis’ outburst the silence was deafening.
That’s wrong and gives the impression that the actions of these individuals are to be condoned.
Why then would they fail to comment? I honestly don’t have the answer but by doing so they allow the Punch and other rags to postulate its own theories, and whether they be true or not these tabloids has been allowed to set the agenda.
Men of God should not and cannot allow themselves to be dictated to. Silence is a sign of consent. Irrespective of the fact that their words may be of little effect they need to be said. From their actions it must be clear that the Christian community is a pillar of moral principle and virtue.
So when we take all the failures of the church coupled with all the problems experienced by the politicians that I mentioned and all the others that I could have, and then add the pronouncement by the Prime Minister that his Code of Ethics does not have a moral element, is it any wonder that there was an explosion in Nassau Village?
The message that is being conveyed is evident, in this land you can do what you want, when you want to whom you want and there is no price to pay.
Therefore when I wrote last week of us allowing the Haitian immigrants to set the agenda I did not do so in a disparaging way. After all I have always supported closer ties on a regional level and have agitated for The Bahamas to join the CSME. Migration of others to our shores is nothing to shy away from. In a developing nation it is to be encouraged as it assists in our overall growth.
What I found of real concern as it relates to migration is ensuring that the same positively affects our society and that we be vigilant in dispelling the negatives.
In The Bahamas we tend to see our immigration problems as Haitian primarily. Look around and you can see that there is a large contingent of other nationals here amongst them Cuban, Chinese and Jamaican.
We have also for a long time also complained about the Jamaicans but little is said or done in respect of the others. The Cuban affair the other day touched off protests in Miami and showed that due to the bilateral agreement with Cuba we are repatriating these nationals. For a longtime though it seemed as if our immigration policy was geared only towards two countries Haiti and Jamaica.
All of these elements contribute to our melting pot and played a factor in what took place. We need not try to place the blame in one sector as the problem is far greater. We have to realise there is enough blame to go around so what is important is working towards a solution.
Super Bowl
The New England Patriots will officially become a dynasty when they beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in Jacksonville having won three Super Bowls in the last four years. I didn’t take much valuable space to comment on football this year as my team the Miami Dolphins had an uncharacteristically poor season.
I am therefore relegated to watching and wishing.
Source: The Nassau Guardian
