I believe with all my heart that we have the ability to dream a blessed dream for our Bahamaland. I also believe that we have the wherewithal to bring that dream to pass. Doing so is not a five-year quest predicated on the election of any one political party. The Bahamas dream and its realization are a mission to be accomplished by the masses of willing souls who call this place home. And this is as it should be. When we pretend that we achieve great things in our nation because one man or woman made it so, we diminish the truth and rob ourselves of both the beauty and glory of collective effort. For all their prowess, Sir Lynden, Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie did nothing for this nation alone. They should never be robbed of their due, of the parts they played in the advancement of our nation, but they should never be seen as single actors who gloriously lifted us up by their own might. Heroes? Yes, maybe. Lone gladiators? Never!
The Bahamas needs heavy lifting right now. It needs heavy lifting in almost every sphere of human endeavor. Huge effort is necessary to accelerate the pace of our economic growth. Substantial work must be done to improve the fiscal state of the government. Enormous energy must be expended to rid ourselves of the criminal elements that are reaping havoc on our communities. A gargantuan thrust is necessary to transform the jangling discords of our educational system into a beautiful symphony of higher achievement, to borrow a phrase from Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior. It will take a magnificent feat to cause our culture to serve better our humanity and vice versa. To preserve and protect the pristine beauty of our environment, it will take no less than monumental force. If all of this is true, and I believe it to be so with all my heart, then if there is not a coming together of the people of this nation in ways unheard of, we will continue to grope about like blind men and women in the dark. If we do not come together and work cooperatively toward some common aims, setting aside the pettiness of our politics and the fecklessness of our feuding, we will see no better for our nation than that which we see today. We need unity, and we need it now.
Unity often requires leadership. I only do not say that it always requires leadership because I do not know all the infinite possibilities that exist in the universe. This wretched hour in our nation calls for a greater display of leadership than ever was presented by Pindling, Ingraham or Christie. It is in effective leadership that we will find that rallying of our citizenry to work for the common good. It is in that leadership that we will find the etching of a vision that looks like rivers of water to a sun parched soul. It is in great leadership that we will find the coaching and encouraging to endure the hardship that a championship effort produces.
The leadership necessary in this present hour in The Bahamas is not solely a political one. Yes, the prime minister and his Cabinet must do their part, and so must the Parliament. However, we need great leadership to show up in our judiciary, the civil service, the business sector, the educational sector, the religious sector and civil society. We got a glimpse of what could be over the years, but only a glimpse; greater is possible, and greater is necessary. In each of these areas, we need leadership to pull souls together and help them work as one to get more done than ever we got done before. I pledge to play my part, as best I can, wherever I am. The need is very great indeed. What say ye? Together it must be.
o Zhivargo Laing is a Bahamian economic consultant and former Cabinet minister who represented the Marco City constituency in the House of Assembly.
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