The Anguillian
June 23rd,2012
Dear Editor:
What is wrong with us Anguillians? Are we all wearing blinders on our eyes and earplugs in our ears? I’m amazed that given the events of the last two weeks, in which there was a stabbing on Scilly Quay and a shooting in West End, that our esteemed leaders still manage to get their priorities wrong. After all that has happened, combined with our economic situation, the subject of independence still takes precedence. Can you believe this?
Though several arrests have been made in connection with the murder of Jordell, and gun trafficking, we’re a long way from being out of the woods. While the Governor and the Chief Minister argue over whose jurisdiction the security ofAnguillafalls under, the fabric of our society is being ripped apart at the seams. The Governor, according to the Chief Minister, says that what is happening is an Anguillian problem. What is even more striking is what he didn’t say. In addition to us being independent-minded, we’re also independent thinkers. He should never forget that. Once again, we’re dealing in semantics. For the want of a nail, the horse was lost. It appears that everytime something drastic happens for which a solution is not readily available, the obvious choice is the old panacea: independence.
Now several prominent Anguillians have come out recently in support of independence and I say, again, at this time we’re chasing fools gold. I agree with Vivien Vanterpool’s article, in The Anguillian (15th June), that independence is something we should aspire to, but before we can take that big step, and it is a big step, we are not ready. Mr. Vanterpool lists all our positives, but he also contrasts them with our negatives. I honestly believe that the latter outweighs the former. I also agree with him when he compares us to the Israelites in that we’ve been wondering out there for some forty-five plus years. He asks the question: Who will be our Joshua? We have no shortage of qualified candidates. Candidates like the eloquent and erudite Paulette Harrigan, Lolita Davis, our historian, Marie Horsford and, last but not least, Pam Webster who contested the last election but who, nonetheless, can be heard every Saturday morning on the airwaves extolling our virtues and standing up for what’s right and morally correct. Our Joshua will have to be someone of strong moral character who believes in integrity and fairness, and who has the ability to perform well on the international stage – someone who is articulate and has the wherewithal to hold his or her own.
For those of us who know our bible, we know then that once Moses led the Israelites out ofEgypt, they turned on him. They resorted to worshipping all sorts of false gods and the like and really went astray. Maybe that is what’s happening to us right now. We’ve gone astray. We are worshipping the almighty dollar. Don’t get me wrong. Money allows us to do what we want, but when it is the only thing that matters, then we all fall short. We need to, as Mr. Vanterpool so eloquently points out, rid ourselves of envy, greed and corruption and return to God.
It is ironic that God should play such a prominent role in our lives these days. I seem to recall one Sunday that Bishop Brooks, from his pulpit, said that when things are going well, God is the last person on our minds, but as soon as things become a little difficult, we find God and start asking for help. I bring this up to recall something that I heard on the Mayor Show on Kool FM two weeks ago. They were discussing the current problem of gun violence among the youth inAnguilla. The guest, I believe, was Percy and when asked what the solution to the problem was he simply said “Jesus is the answer”. He then proceeded to remind us of how it used to be when he went to school – how we used to pray, and so on and so forth. To be honest, it brought back memories because I too remembered those days. Percy goes on to say this all changed when prayer and corporal punishment were taken out of school and we adopted laws that were handed down to us by someone else. Today’s youth either don’t know the difference between right and wrong because they haven’t been taught, because their parents are off working two jobs to maintain the lifestyle to which they’d become accustomed, or they just don’t care. They’re just incorrigible.
Until we remove the mate from our own eyes, our brothers will continue to walk around blindly with their pants hanging below their butt cheeks – from one disaster to the other. Our children have lost their way simply because we let them do it. We’re busy chasing the almighty dollar to support them and in the long haul have neglected to teach them anything. We’re now looking for answers and wondering where did it all go so horribly wrong. This didn’t just happen overnight. Some of us saw it coming and did nothing. Some saw it coming and cried out for help but to no avail. We were too busy to invest in our social infrastructure and, consequently, we’re now reaping those fruits.
I agree with Mr. Vanterpool that we are our brother’s keepers, and until we stop our selfish and evil ways we’ll continue to push him back into the water and watch him drown.
We need to pull together as a team. Put aside our petty differences – tighten our belts – and if we are our brother’s keepers then, damn it, start acting like it. Let us putAnguillafirst. Let us clean up this mess that we’ve created. Let us go back to what we know works. I’m not saying to go back in time. That would be counterproductive, but there are things we can do. Be civil, be respectful and, most of all, let’s remember the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Not do unto others before they do unto you. If we had continued teaching those things to our young, maybe, just maybe, we wouldn’t be having the problems with our young that we are currently experiencing.
Let us put our house in order and get back to where we once were and then, maybe, with the right time and all the moving parts in place, we can make the move that our one per centers want to make. Until then, we’ll have to continue flinging stones and hiding our hands for the very same reasons that our citizens don’t cooperate with the police. Let’s hope that that day comes sooner rather than later. Till then, God bless us all and may God bless Anguilla.
Concerned Anguillian
