The thrilling success and importance of the 1967 Anguilla Revolution was further emphasised on Wednesday this week when a National Service of Thanksgiving was held in honour of the late Nardine Lake, one of the brave and then young women in the vanguard of the Revolution.
The official recognition and ceremony attached to the service was a fitting tribute to a patriotic national who, four-and-a-half decades ago, in her early 20s, allied herself with other womenwho virtually put themselves at risk for love of country. It is a credit to the bravery, steadfastness and support they gave to the men, and to the cause, that helped to guarantee the success of the Revolution. That success has now brought much hope and progress to an island and people once regarded as a backwater of the Caribbean.
The Government is to be commended for its new approach to recognising the contributions of nationals in the Anguilla Revolution as well as for other outstanding services. Certainly, as the Ministry of Home Affairs said, in a press release, the time has come to develop a policy to accord formal recognition to heroes and heroines of the Revolution at their funerals. (See statement of condolence elsewhere in this edition of The Anguillian).
The Government’s decision to recognise freedom fighters and other prominent Anguillians is a fine gesture of national honour andpride. Of course, as the saying goes, we must also “give them their flowers” while they are still alive. As pointed out in our previous editorial, there can be various programmes to provide health care and other basic, but important, forms of assistance to make our people’s last days more comfortable. This is all about national development.
The National Thanksgiving Service, under review, is a page in the island’s history. In one sense, the life and service of the late Nardine Lake are a shining example for young people in Anguilla. It tells a story of how the island’s youth can give of themselves to the national interest with no thought of reward, save the personal joy and fulfilment they achieve from their positive contributions. In another sense, her life and service are an example of how sacrificial, caring love for fellowmen can help to enrich their lives and bolster their hopes. In yet another sense,her life and service together tell how devout Christian living and humility can be a rewarding spiritual experience and a source of strength for persons, and how they can convey the same to others. If there is an additional lesson to be learnt it is how, through one’s life and service,that persons, like Nardine, can be truly loved, admired, eulogised and remembered.
Thanks and appreciation must be accorded to the Royal Anguilla Police Force, the Police Community Band and the Pathfinders for their smart bearing and performance at the Thanksgiving Service. Similar commendation must be given to Two Sons Funeral Home for the orderly and stately conduct of the funeral; and the Seventh-day Adventist Church for so well executing the Thanksgiving Service.
It was certainly a service and ceremony with a touch of class which gave all of us a high measure of national pride and comfort. The large turnout of hundreds of persons from throughout the island and abroad, including officials of the Governor’s Office and the Anguilla Government, was indicative of the high esteem in which Nardine was held. For the milling crowd, it was also an embrace and appreciation of the start of a Government’s policy to honour heroes, heroines and otherAnguillians for their contributions to the island.
In short, as already stated, it was a gesture of national honour and pride.
