Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie, on Wednesday urged parents and teachers not to give up on students who seemed not to be grasping their work. He said he is an example of a student who was not doing well, and today, he is the Prime Minister who can appoint former classmates if they want a position in public life.

Prime Minister Christie was giving the keynote address at the Tabernacle Falcons 16th Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament at the school’s campus.

Entertaining the guests with the ‘Christie Shuffle,’ the Prime Minister said that Tabernacle was the second school he had been to in Grand Bahama during his political career, which spanned over 40 consecutive years. It was a pleasure to be invited to the school and share with the varying generations of children who performed.

“The essence of education” he said, “is preparation. For the parents who are here, you have an extraordinary obligation to understand the value of education to your children. Secondly, to understand that education is deeper and broader than just book learning. That preparation is preparation for life. Preparation for dealing with circumstances that one will be confronted with and by and therefore, the cultural expressions you saw, the singing, the dancing.”

He ventured that the only disappointment was when the students were demonstrating the different dances of the country: as there is a dance known as the ‘Christie Shuffle.’ The music was then played and Prime Minister Christie said he told some children on Saturday that they should not challenge him because he has always been the best dancer in Junkanoo. The Christie Shuffle was met with loud applause.

Prime Minister Christie then told his audience that education is something to be valued because at the age of 14 he was expelled from school. His father was a taxi driver and his mother was a midwife. He said he may not have received sufficient attention, and he didn’t pay attention in school resulting in his being expelled and he should therefore get a trade.

“To parents and teachers who are here present, I’m a living example of someone who had the opportunity taken away, the application of a harsh judgment that was incorrect.” Donald Davis, a teacher and principal, after whom we named a school, recognized that they were wrong and that I was deserving of a second chance.

“In the process, I was insecure. I had to live in a community where friends and cousins of mine had stayed in this prestigious high school and I had been put out. So I took up athletics as a past time and Junkanoo. And there, between the two of them the discipline of training, the discipline of preparation taught me that in life, whether it is in the school, in the lessons being taught, or in Junkanoo, in preparing a costume in shaping the cardboard and matching the colours, that in sports I was a triple jumper and a long jumper and the fourth man on the relay team. But it took training, it took discipline, it took dedication, it took a commitment.”

It was after all of this, he continued, that hope entered his family’s home. “There was hope that led into expectation which developed into anticipation that I could become something special.

“Parents and teachers, there are children who may have gone from class to class who may not even be average, but if you exercise that extra degree of discernment you can see the precious qualities that remain undiscovered.”

Prime Minister Christie said they could be the catalyst in that young person’s life. It doesn’t matter how often you get knocked down, he said, but how many times you get up. No matter the sport, he said, it is an important part of learning.

“And if you are involved in team sports -- then you have another extraordinary learning [opportunity] that you are going to pick up, the recognition that the power of two and three and four and five, is greater than the power of one. The capacity to be able to know your role and to know that there are others on the team who are just as talented or even more talented, just as gifted or even more gifted and who will be able to, through the connectivity, through the coordination, through the integrated expression of your athletic and sporting ability, you’ll be able to win, participate effectively.”

He continued, “So the lessons of life are as such where the young men who I left in high school now work for me. I have the privilege to appoint them if they want to be in public life. If you want aspiration with realism, it means that anybody even the stone that the builder rejected, can be shaped and fashioned to be something powerful in the makeup of the building. That’s the lesson. That’s the real meaning that I’ve come to tell you.”

Commenting on the talent present, Prime Minister Christie said, The Bahamas must find the formula for those gifted individuals to have an opportunity to determine whether or not they have a career in singing or dancing. Just as The Bahamas has produced basketball players in the Major Leagues, there could be future stars present.

Prime Minister Christie commended Norris Bain, organizer of the event, on the work done with the students.

He closed by saying “each of us in our country has an opportunity to play a role. We must determine what that role is and we must determine the extent to which, we want it; we should seize the moment, carpe diem, seize the opportunity to amplify and expand the role.”

FOOD DRIVE DONATION – Staff and students of Tabernacle Baptist are being taught the importance of giving back, and in so doing, they held a food drive and made a donation to Urban Renewal on Wednesday during the official opening of their 16th Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament. Shown with staff of Urban Renewal are Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie who gave the opening remarks, student Mia Little, and Ms. Michelle Reckley of Urban Renewal. (BIS Photo/Philip A. Curry)

CHRISTIE SHUFFLE – Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie, gave a demonstration of the Christie Shuffle on Wednesday during the official opening of Tabernacle Baptist’s 16th Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament. (BIS Photo/Philip A. Curry)