I was raised in the Christian faith and though I still believe in a power greater than myself – or the rulers of any country – I cannot be called religious.
Yet one scriptural verse from memories past repeats in my mind since evening fell on May 7, 2012.
“Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying…”
One man took a personal grudge for his leader and masked it as cause to rally followers desperate for something new, on a temporary ride, to upset the most pivotal general election of our time.
In the process of dissecting the governing party, to the extent that its leader lost his governing seat, that man also ended up tossed out on his backside. That is what happens when you turn on the people who gave you the power to fight for them in the first place.
Let us not be surprised when that man exits the political arena as swiftly as he entered it, because passion for others is not what drives him.
He is passionate, first and foremost, about himself, and he has exemplified this politically, professionally, and through the cracks, personally.
I believe that we fall before we rise, in order to rise. But today I get an uneasy feeling far on the inside that the worst is ahead of us in our country – not behind us.
At the time we most need the best leader to get us through what is to come, in walks a person who is not equipped for the job, primarily because a need to please others gets in the way of doing it.
And, ultimately, it has come to this because the one man saw fit to fulfil his individual agenda rather than ride for hope with substantial improvements in the most fundamental areas of human and national development: health, social services, education, environment, and entrepreneurship. I believe for the first time, in my youngish years, that this is truly a fulfilment of prophecy.
That a majority of our people would use their votes to faithlessly answer the immediate troubles of their lives, abandoning the vision required to see past themselves, is more than telling of an entrenched inability to think forward, and deeply disturbing when you consider the losses which have been and must be suffered to achieve a quick fix.
The same majority wants the impossible and is willing to sacrifice nothing for it. What many fail to understand is that no one administration is single-handedly responsible for crime, unemployment or debt. And as such, no one of them can single-handedly eradicate them. Social norms established many, many years in advance, along with their associated mindsets, create the problems of the future by creating masses of unprincipled people who are primarily self-interested.
People who don’t know or care to know what is right cannot do what is right. People who cannot or choose not to make a decision will never, make a right (over wrong) decision. Now the combination of both character flaws will lead our country.
For my children, I will hope for the best. But if faith is the substance of things hoped for, and those commencing in leadership do not inspire faith, it is more than difficult to imagine the outcome.
Nicole Burrows
Nassau, The Bahamas
May, 2012
