The Bahamas remains a country in a serious state of denial and the many problems that beset and trouble us will continue to be the order of the day until we take of our blinders and come to this irrefutable realization. We continue to pretend and to ask what has gone wrong when the answer is as clear as a cloudless sunshine day, Bahamian style.
At the moment, I am listening to Steve McKinney’s Drive Time Talk Show with his guest Dr. Elwood Donaldson and the discussion centres around the multi faceted problems facing our society and whether we as a people have the will to face and deal with them on an urgent basis. I must say that I fully support the views advanced by the good doctor except those concerning capital punishment but this is a subject that will be addressed by me at another time and perhaps another place.
Suffice it is to say that there is a culture of dishonesty that is slowly but surely destroying our society and that corruption of all shades and forms is endemic and ingrained and has reached epidemic proportions.
Many pundits have many reasons for this state of affairs most of whom skirt around them thus making it difficult for sound solutions to be found.
We see wrong doing wantonly displayed and we rationalize it until we arrive at a “see no evil, do no evil” resolution. lt’s your thing so do what you want to do. We appear to be on a collision course, know how to right the ship, but fail to take the appropriate action and the end result is that there is a “May Day” call followed by a “Man Overboard” cry and we are left to sink or swim. Some will make it and some will not.
Listening to the various comments that painted a picture of gloom and doom had me in a less than pleasant state of mind but then I remembered yesterday and paused to reflect on it.
Along with several others I had the opportunity to interview a young professional who is about thirty years old. She was refreshingly forthright and honest and I made the point in commending her and encouraged her to be a beacon of light for others to emulate.
Then later I called to mind another discussion that I had recently with another professional of the same age whose philosophy seemed to be that of instant gratification and the “I will do whatever it takes to accomplish my objective” syndrome.
Two individuals as different as day is from night but reflective of today’s society. One of the mindset that hard work and patience and dedication will over time bring the deserved reward while the other cannot and will not wait and the desired result must be instantaneous. Of course it appears that in our society persons in the latter category are often the ones that receive the accolades and awards that leave many of us wondering how these things could be.
But therein lies the problem of how to find the much needed solutions to those matters that continue to plague us when there are those among us who are prepared to “borrow” and this includes relatives and friends, scarce resources that we have been able to accumulate with no intention of ever repaying, who hide and dodge and become very scarce until they think that you have forgotten. Then, there are those who make agreements verbal and written knowing that they have no intention of living up to them and whereas they could once be easily located through visits or telephone contacts they disappear as if into thin air and see nothing wrong in all this. Of course if you are lucky, you may spot them on television, singing in the church choir, making a presentation or receiving an award. And, we wonder out loud what has become of our society. The answer is obvious. We have made wrong, “right” and vice versa and continue to do so and a lot of our proclamations are only hot air and no amount of “right on” and “Amens” will change that any time soon.
From the epidemic corruption and the ungrained culture of dishonesty, O Lord deliver us!
Yours etc.
By Oswald Munnings
Letter To The Editor,
The Nassau Guardian
