Editor,

Some have bogusly questioned why I, over these many decades, would regularly submit editorial letters and articles for publication in the media. Well, as a proud citizen of The Bahamas, it has always been my stance that while one has breath in his/her body that he/she should speak out and advocate for national issues. Being silent or polite is not the stuff of which a successful and dynamic nation is built. God did not give any one individual all knowledge and that is why dialogue is so important.

Here in our wonderful nation, despite the obvious challenges. many persons, all across the wider society, are perplexed and almost going crazy over the single issue of 'crime' and alleged gang-related homicides. May I be so bold as to remind readers that there was a time way back in the past when one used to see persons whom we referred to loosely as Jonsers? They were a cause for undue alarm in the major Islands, especially New Providence.

Well, today, they are hardly ever seen. These alarming gang-related homicides will also cease one day, sooner rather than later, when the perpetrators eliminate each other to the irreducible minimum. Callous but so true.

Crime and the desire to commit the same starts with a 'seed' that is planted in an individual's mind either by warped thinking or due to bad influences. No one was simply born a criminal. You plant a bad seed, what sort of harvest do you expect to reap? A good one? God forbid!! It is akin to planting a Banana seed and expecting to reap oranges. Every seed produces after its own kind. Even in the animal world, the seed of a lion will, ordinarily, only produce a lion cub....it cannot come out as a monkey, with all due respect to monkeys.

No amount of police, no amount of resources that are thrown at policing, no amount of political rhetoric and posturing, and certainly no amount of public praying will ever change the seed that is planted in one's vineyard. Only the owner of the particular vineyard (his/her mind) is able to select the type of seed that he/she will plant. The particular individual makes that choice... good or bad.

Most Bahamians simply need to change their mindsets by digging or plowing up the current vineyard, filled with prickly thorns, and replanting the same with 'good' seeds. You want pineapples? Sow pineapple seeds. You want 'good' children? Show them how to plant and nature 'good' seeds. You wish to see the mayhem amongst our people continuing? Continue to cloak ourselves and children in planting bad societal and economic seeds. 

Far too many Bahamians are poor and financially disadvantaged due to the seeds of poverty which they have planted or allowed to be planted in their minds.' When those seeds are ripe for harvest, the results are dismal at best.

Written by: Ortland H. Bodie Jr.

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