Social destruction:
Bahama Journal Editorial -
Nassau, Bahamas:

In times past we expected brouhaha to end once the people had spoken.

In this regard, a friend of ours has given us a retort to last a lifetime. Her view is that now that the people have spoken, some one needs to tell her what they said!

Notwithstanding this apparent dilemma, we know that our people are not stupid. We know that they are not deceived by political slogans. And for sure, we are convinced that these good people know that there is a price for everything.

After all, these are the same people who have always known that you get nothing for nothing and very little for your penny.

Today these Bahamians know that the cost of living is high and that it will go even higher. These people also know that they are hurting.

Unfortunately, these same people are being troubled by what seems an unfolding truth, namely that their so-called leaders may not have the answers for our social problems.

This may explain that pervasive sense of foreboding that seems to be lingering in the air, notwithstanding the fact that those elections that were supposed to set the record straight are supposedly over.

Like other people around the world who understand that they must sweat if they wish to make it in the world, Bahamians know, understand and appreciate the value and worth of honest toil.

Most of our people are fully conversant with the relationship between what they call ‘scrimping and saving’.

There are some Bahamians who are quite conscious of the fact that their sweated labour and their meager earnings are sometimes just not enough to make ends meet.

In some extreme instances some proud people are obliged to turn to strangers for this or that scrap of much needed attention. Here reference need only be made to those times and circumstances where public provision is simply not available.

At that juncture, the appeal is made to charity.

Sadly, while this is often well-intentioned; it is –quite frankly- too little and too late.

Many sociologists and psychologists often point to the connection between poverty and crime. Our thoughts are turned in this direction today as we reflect on what seems a rapidly growing spiral of violence that has engulfed so many of this nation’s youthful population, leaving some of them maimed and some others quite dead.

This situation is intolerable to most of our people. But by the same token we are absolutely convinced that practically no-one from the government on down has a clue as to what is to be done.

Some times it sure does seem as if everyone has a preferred solution, while practically no one seems to be agreed as to what are the true and real dimensions of the problem.

This and similar phenomena are all symptomatic of a deeper spiritual malaise that has taken root in the Bahamian spirit.

Convinced that things matter more than persons, most Bahamians focus their attention and resources on the acquisition of things.

The availability of jobs and income are in this scheme of things, means to an end.

Quite evidently, the Bahamian people also know that these goods come with a price tag. They also know that there are people in this community who do not pay their fair share of the taxes that provide the government the revenue it needs.

In this regard, we reiterate a point we have previously made, that being that the poor in the Bahamas are being asked to pay more and more for less and less.

This is wrong. This is abhorrently unwise. And for sure, this type of unjust system is surely embarked on a road to social destruction.

14 June 2007