The Tribune

By Canon Sebastian Campbell

What is an appropriate response to this knee-jerk culture we have nurtured these many years?

So the country is about to celebrate independence, a committee is put in place at the eleventh hour to rush plans, all inclusive of an expansive archipelago.

How do we adequately spread the national colours, meaningfully, so that all eyes in all islands and cays would truly feel that there is one Bahamas?

How do we adequately celebrate all cultural events, be they holidays and other significant moments?

Are we doing justice, through our feeble approach in using these events as tools for education as we should?

Without a properly thought out and executed plan we will go on missing golden opportunities to educate the minds of our most important constituents, the children.

Forty years of independence calls for some bold and daring decisions so as to make sense out of our independence.

There should be an active debate on the Bahamas achieving status as a republic.

Who will bell this cat? Some how, this should be an open door for the church, a wonderful ball for the Christian Council to carry. Remember, the engine for independence was rated up to high speed only because of the church’s involvement. Daring ministers get involved in the independence movement at a time when it was so unpopular and seen as partisan. Persons who pushed the independence agenda are our heroes. Those church leaders ought to be researched, singled out and honoured. Truly they accepted the great commission to be agents of change.
Today’s leaders must lead outside their contextual pulpits. Everyone now seemed to play it safe in the box. Nothing will change until we are willing to “steer courageously into the chilly teeth of the prevailing winds of change” (words uttered by the late Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling). Too many are in that corner of complaints. Yes, admittedly, we fell down on these celebrations. They are not all they could have been. But look at this last minute culture we have.
The average Bahamian has always looked outside himself for someone to do that which he ought to do himself.

No doubt there are those among us who would gladly welcome the government sending teams to decorate their private property and buy them their t-shirts, flags, streamers etc. If not, then, why the deficit on the lack of national colours on our landscape?
We need education, there must be mechanism set in place to help with this.

I humbly suggest we put in place a mechanism that works year round to forever plan, implement, revise and institute ideas for national celebrations.

Waiting for an event, and the ad hoc committees etc is not cutting it.

Such a body should now be planning the forty-first Anniversary of Independence celebrations. Now we should be simply implementing plans for the fortieth and planning towards the forty first and ultimately the fiftieth. How frustrating it is to be both planning and implementing one and the same time.
We should institutionalise a cultural committee to plan and execute for national celebrations such as independence.

It is an opportunity to indoctrinate the minds of our children in things Bahamian. It will bring much order to these important national events.

This ‘knee-jerk culture’ must go.
Having now planted this seed in the hearts of Bahamians I am sure our government will appropriately respond.

The next level beckons us.