The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I am a concerned citizen. I wrote this article and would be grateful for your review and publication.

Our nation is headed in a direction that scares many people; that scares me. My intent in writing is to hopefully sensitise the public and provoke a real discussion and conversation on where we are headed as a nation, as a people; as a family structure. Do we need to change? What do we need to change? Are we mature enough and have enough fortitude to implement the changes.

LET’S TALK BAHAMAS

Hello everyone. Let’s talk for a moment. A heart-to-heart conversation. Where is the Bahamas really headed? Will we like what we have become when it is all said and done? What is really driving us? What is happening to our morals, our values? What happened to children respecting and honouring their parents, what happened to looking out and respecting the elderly? What happened to hard and honest work? What is happening to us?

I am by no stretch of the imagination isolating myself but concerned by our actions, concerned about our future, concerned about our kids, and concerned about our well-being. I have many, many flaws and issues I am working through. But, I believe that we all need to stop and re-examine our lives; where are we headed?

I was reading about a very prominent nation that reminds me a lot of our country. They started with morality, integrity, good sound laws and values. Let me describe some of the things that caught my attention:-

1. Many lawyers became corrupted and did not plead cases with integrity and as a result people were deprived in the court of justice.

2. Evil schemes, fighting and murder became the order of the day.

3. There was once a quality of being morally right but a distortion of truth seemed to replace it.

4. Some influential and prominent leaders opposed and resisted established law and order.

5. Bribes became a common household delight with an attitude that suggests “what’s in it for me?”
   

6. There was no real genuine commitment to protect and assist abandoned children, elderly, and the poor.

7. Citizens stole and defrauded others of their properties and inheritances.

8. “Sweet-hearting”, “creeping” and living a lie became a past time of joy that permeated the society.

9. Workers were exploited.

10. There were numerous religious activities and events which were ritualistic in nature.

Where am I going with all of this? What’s the point?

Let me ask you a question? Do you see any of the above in our nation? Does it grieve you? I know it grieves the Almighty; it grieves Jesus Christ. This was not meant to condemn you but to suggest to you that we need to change. If we want God to bless our nation; we need to change. Change must come on an individual, family and national level.

We must identify the root cause of our problems. What is it? I believe the following sheds some light:-

1. Rebellion against the established laws of God and the law of the land

2. We have a lot of preaching and teaching, but we are not really understanding God’s intent; his desires; his will. In some cases, many of the young people have not been systematically taught morality, integrity and the upholding of ethics and values.

3. Outwardly we seem to be a christian nation, but internally we have forsaken many ways of God.

So, what do we do? I believe the Holy Spirit admonishes us to stop being religious by engaging in meaningless offerings, prayers, singing, and assemblies. We offer lip service but, “is our hearts really right or aligned with God in truth”? I know we all have been guilty of this. It is God’s desire that we learn to do right, seek justice, defend people that are oppressed and above all else; let’s work diligently to stop hurting and wronging each other.

I love you and I love this little “giant” of a nation.

CONCERNED CITIZEN

Nassau,

October 30, 2013.