The Bahama Journal Editorial:

When He walked among men, Jesus Christ had messages for all who would hear; and as we know, this is the season on the Christian calendar when billions of people around the world now prepare themselves for His fateful advent.

Evidently, this should be a time of joy; a time of high expectation and a time when men and women and children would be fulsome in their delight at being alive.

And for sure, all who say that they are Christians should be especially ecstatic in these days that some of them describe as days of Elijah.

Sadly, this is not the case for very many of these people; instead, some of them are weighed down by a myriad of problems – inclusive of being jobless, homeless and troubled from all sides.

There is also a sense we are getting that, there are very many Bahamians who now despair of the Word itself; preferring to believe – for whatever reason- that they have been abandoned and left bereft of succor.

In its essence, this is a profound malaise of the spirit; one which leads – sometimes inexorably- to the point where life itself seems to have become oppressive; with things slouching towards frenzy and rage.

This can and does lead to ideation concerning either the annihilation of the self or some other human person.

This is failure of the first order; a failure of the spirit.

Evidently, Bahamians have also consistently failed themselves by clinging to the belief that it is money that matters most of all – thus their collective failure to cultivate things of the spirit; and thus the incipient failure of some of this society’s most basic institutions.

Here they are sadly mistaken.

They can – if only they would – get back to that sweet place where love of neighbor truly matters and where each one decides to take a loving interest in at least one other of their fellow- Bahamian.

And for sure, while they are at this, they could and should be a tad more generous to the stranger in their midst; noting that, there was once a time when they too were strangers in what was once a strange land to them.

Indeed, as in any other situation where there are problems to be solved; there will arise men and women who will proffer answers.

And so today, we have a situation on our hands where despite the best efforts of this or that politician; a bevy of pastors and preacher-men; or for that matter, any number of arm-chair philosophers and pundits; we are far from finding a definitive answer as to what ails the Bahamian people.

Why are so very many of them so very despondent? Why are so very many of them so very angry?  And why pray tell, are so very many so terribly distressed?

And in the midst of it all, we need some kind of answer as to why so very many Bahamians are so caught up in their own versions of the rat race that, they refuse to take –if only a moment –to savor the ambience that comes with living in a place that seems a veritable paradise for so very many strangers.

As it is in matters such as these, we too have some ideas as to what now ails so very many of our people. Here we are absolutely convinced that, the main problem currently besetting so very many of our people happens to related to the fact that they have failed miserably in cultivating things of the spirit; with this related in no small measure to their conclusion that, they live in a material world – a place where nothing matters so much as money.

With this comes the pernicious idea that a person’s worth inheres in the amount of stuff he or she possesses; the amount of money they have at their disposal; or for that matter, the control they have over how other human persons can obtain some of these material things.

Interestingly enough, there is a sense we are getting of the matter at hand where we are –slowly but surely- coming to the conclusion that, this pernicious idea has taken root in the past half-century.

And so it came to be that, so very many Bahamians were able to clamber up and ever upward materially – even as more and more of them arrived at that point where it was money and more money that mattered most of all.

This is precisely where the problem began; and paradoxically, this is where it can be brought to an end.

If only they would, our people can become healthier and wealthier were they to become more loving and more caring for themselves and the land that sustains them.

Here right spirit matters most of all.

December 10, 2010

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Caribbean Blog International