Tuesday, 19 June 2012 (North Side,Anguilla)—We all know the African saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Well, there is another phrase coined that says, “It takes a community to raise a nation.” Our island of Anguilla is fast becoming like larger, more developed countries in the world where crime runs rampant and neighbours neglect to look out for others. How did we get to this state of being, living without a conscience or concern for the individuals whom we know as family and friends or mere acquaintances, schoolmates and co-workers?
It seems that we got caught up in trying “to keep up with the Jones” as the American expression goes—or in our small island community like the Smiths, Harrigans, Richardsons, Hodges, Lakes or whatever family surname one chooses to emulate. What happened to us in our villages? Where are the days when we were our brother and sisters’ keepers, watched out for one another, borrowed a cup of flour or sugar if our neighbour had any to spare, reprimanded a child who was not our own but was misbehaving badly, visited an elderly grandparent, uncle or aunt who was sick and shut in?
We used to show compassionate care towards one another and made sure everyone in our village and family was doing allright, living well or as best as could be expected due to the circumstances or conditions in which we were living. Nowadays, though, it seems that the focus of so many of our youths, children and adults is to tear down and destroy persons whom we are envious of, hate, dislike or have some “beef” (disagreement or argument) with just because we have the so called “power”, which is a misuse of the term, to do harm to another human being. The grudges that we hold against one another may be justified or are unjustified. No matter which is the case, we sometimes don’t stop to think about the consequences of our actions before taking them, or how our words spoken or written can impact or affect other individuals’ lives. We attempt to resolve our disputes by becoming overly aggressive and demanding that the persons behave as we dictate them to do, instead of trying to sit down and have a civil conversation or calmly talk about the issues involved or whatever it is that is irritating us about the other person’s behaviour.
What is wrong with us as a people—as Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists, Agnostics, Africans, Anguillians, Americans, Brits, brown skinned, clear skinned, light coloured or by whatever name and category we choose to identify ourselves—when we neglect to follow the teachings of our Almighty Creator, Mother/Father God and the spiritual teachers or holy leaders like Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Sri Vasudeva (otherwise known as Guruji), Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, Haile Selassie as well as the many other persons who have touched our lives in a significant way like our earthly mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, school teachers and so forth? Have we forgotten where we came from, from whom we were created or who we truly are? If we delve deeper into the depths of the soul, we will come to recognise that we are all—no matter the ethnicity, nationality, religious belief, political party or any other similarities or differences—the children of God who are living in these physical bodies and having human experiences.
Many people say that “the signs of the times” indicate the world is coming to an end and Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died for us on the cross and was resurrected, will soon return. However, for those of us who are enlightened or recognise the Christ consciousness, we believe that we are merely going through a major shift of energy or self-awareness (consciousness) of Mother Earth in order to become more awakened to the true meaning of life, what the Creator designed life to be for us and every living creature. Whatever your beliefs may be, it is time for all of us, both singularly as individuals and collectively as a cohesive community, to become conscious of the direction our lives are leading. We need to start speaking out about the injustices we observe daily in life. Then we must address the social dis-eases (ills) within our communities, as well as the personal issues (or “demons”) that we each face within our own selves, takingthe appropriate actions necessary to bring about the positive changes that are desired.
Each one of us at some point in our lives has experienced some incidents that have left traumatic scars on our well being, which we may or may not have healed from and which greatly impact our living abundant and positive lives. What will make a significant improvement in our lives is working on building healthy relationships not only with our individual selves, but also with others, loving one another as Christ’s teachings have taught us to do. We all can witness what happens to people who have unhealed wounds from the things that they have experienced in their lives and what they have done to nations and communities. The ill effects are now so widely reflected in the global events happening worldwide in the countries of the Caribbean region,Syria, theUSA,Britain,Egypt,Libyaand other places on the planet that we read about in the news or watch on the nightly television reports.
Close to home, we see first-hand effects on family, friends and the community with the recent gunning down and stabbing deaths of three of our young men—Jordel Gumbs, Marcus Rogers and Gustave Hodge. With this rage of violence being perpetrated amongst our youths onAnguilla, we have a tendency to want to say it’s due to the fault of the parents who raised them, it’s because the Police Officers are not doing their jobs or give some other explanation for the senseless executions. We also say the Government Ministers and the Governor need to step in and bring in outside forces to aid us with clearing up this dilemma. Our mouths speak words talking about whose fault it is. Yet we never sit down to the table as a whole community group to have discussions and come up with solutions to these penetrating problems that are intensely impacting all of our lives.
As human beings who, unlike God, are fallible we are often unconsciously aware of the things that we do or choices we make that can adversely influence ourselves and other persons’ lives. We have a tendency to point the finger of blame at someone else for what is wrong in our lives or within our communities, families, work places, etc. But the truth of the matter is that often times when we are pointing the finger at another individual, that person or situation is only a mirror reflecting back to us an aspect of our own inner selves that we need to take a look at and thoroughly examine. The Lord speaks to us in many ways trying to get us to become better human beings.
On top of this deadly environment of gunning down and stabbing our young men, we are also faced with the serious issue of a large proportion of our community being unemployed or under employed. We struggle with an economy that is not getting substantially better any time soon, and prices that keep skyrocketing for essential items like food and beverages, household products, electricity and petrol. Instead of dealing effectively with these important affairs, we focus our attention on bickering between political parties or warring gangland factions from east to west and north to south, chatting (gossip) about the neighbours living next door, and talking about the nation going independent fromBritain. Why can’t we put all of our undivided attention on facing what really matters in everyone’s life?
So what can we do to nurture our community and ourselves? Slowly, we are beginning to realise that we must come together as a community, to band as one united front to deal with what is going on in order for our nation to thrive. People are beginning to speak out more and write about what they are observing, sharing their thoughts and opinions. One positive outcome of people uniting together, that we are witnessing today, is the recently established food banks at the local grocery stores organised by various groups in our community. We have recognised the importance of reaching out to our fellow human beings and collecting non-perishable, edible goods that are the necessary nutrition for families and individuals in villages to survive. Island-wide, some folks who are in great need of such assistance are receiving these much-needed staples. It gladdens our hearts to see that we are showing others how much we care. Yet there is so much more that we could be doing if we examined our own selves individually, did whatever we could do on a personal level and banded together as a concerned community group to take actions within each village throughoutAnguilla.
For our youths who are in turmoil, we can start talking to (or continue to talk with) them one on one, have youth groups or meetings on a regular basis. On a larger scale, we could work with the Department of Youth and Culture, the Zenaida Haven (Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre) as well as the local churches of various faiths and denominations to begin developing a “Peace Academy” where we bring together the young men and women of differing “gangs”, and children of different age groups, to have dialogues and discussions regarding what are their differences and uncover what are the underlying causes that make them be at odds with (against) each other, why they dis (dislike) one another or won’t listen to and heed the messages of their elders. We need counsellors and mediators to come forward and volunteer to assist the youths in discovering their inner selves and working through these unpleasant or confrontational situations to create meaningful resolutions to the issues that the young people face on a daily basis. May be in getting involved with the youths, we will also find solutions for the challenges that we face in our lives as adults.
Perhaps some of the reactions or retaliations that the young people are exhibiting stem from the childhood abuse they personally experienced, the domestic violence environments they grew up in, low self-esteem that they have for themselves, a lack of confidence in themselves or no future direction for their lives to take because they don’t have the funds to go to university and there are no paid employment positions available locally for which they qualify without having acquired ample work experience. Whatever is the cause of the youths discontent we, as adults, and consciously aware people, have a responsibility to help guide our children and young persons. It is sometimes just a matter of talking with a youngster about what we experienced when we were her or his age and sharing suggestions we might have with them. Yet at other times, we are unable to be effectively helpful because we have not properly dealt with our own selves and issues. So we too can become misguided in our views and opinions, and need to seek support for ourselves whilst at the same time learning to help others.
Whatever ideas you, yourself might have for solutions to resolve our community’s degrading socio-economic environment, share them, speak your thoughts out loud to others. Take action, even doing something small that you may think is insignificant can have a positive affect on a person’s life. With one step at a time, we can make positive changes that will benefit all of us—not just for Anguillians alone, but also for every individual regardless of where he or she was born or what is his or her nationality. We need to promote a positive living environment in which each person who resides on island as well as the visitors who come to our shores can feel safe and at peace, living healthy lives and working together to benefit all ‘a we as one people.
Editor’s note: Since attending the Anguilla Lit Fest 2012, Kay M. Ferguson has taken up the challenge given by distinguished author Randall Robinson of St Kitts and theUSA to write about social conditions within the communities that we live. The views that she has expressed in this article are some of her own and also come from other individuals. She has gathered comments and remarks from conversations with friends and by listening to people talk in the community. Kay encourages speaking out in a truthful and inspiring manner, so that we are all encouraged to become more consciously aware and to create empowering solutions to life’s daily pop quizzes and tests.
