The working poor return to the reality that prices are high, the heat in their homes is near unbearable and they fear that even worse could come if hurricanes pass by.
These same people are fearful for their children; this because they know that today’s Bahamas is a cruel, hard-edged place where the youngest and the littlest usually suffer most.
And of course, there is practically no Bahamian family that has not been scourged by drugs and guns and their attendant violence. This brings with it all the sordid reality that in the past three decades and some six years of Independence thousands of Bahamians have been maimed killed or otherwise ripped off by their fellow Bahamians.
Simply put, abuse is rampant. This abuse is personal and interpersonal.
At another level of discourse, abuse itself seems to be systemic.
Here we reference the fact that despite the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars in the post-independence era, we still have a situation where far too many schools are failing; far too many people are being denied access to justice on a timely basis; and where far too many Bahamians are having their lives blighted with fear.
At the core of this syndrome of problems is a Bahamian mindset that calls on leaders to throw good money behind bad, regardless the social cost. We see this at work in practically all government corporations. As they fail, they send for more money. And once the money is sent, as per usual it is spent on what some insiders call the ‘same old same old’.
Bahamasair is but one of the more egregious examples.
The same principle has been at work in our nation’s school system.
And as we are currently learning, mediocrity and waste reign in our nation’s health care systems. Indeed, the costs here are sometimes catastrophically tragic.
In one recent instance – so we have been advised – an auxiliary nurse gave an overdose of a potent drug to an ailing infant, attempted to cover up the error and was discovered.
To date, the public is yet to get a verifiable account of exactly what – if anything – did go down to cause such a stir of fevered talk on the part of some professionals in the health care system.
And as practically everyone would know by now, the criminal justice system is in an advanced state of decay and as some say on the verge of collapse.
In the meantime, some who lead seem oblivious to the damage that is being done as one system after the other is either perverted or diverted from their mission.
Here take note that the same set of damning complaints can be made concerning the police, immigration, customs and the defense force. They are all obliged to deal with so-called ‘rotten apples’ in their midst.
In other words, these institutions are cankered and corrupted. Some critics say that the corruption comes with the job. Here they argue that this is the case because the jobs in question bring with them such splendid opportunities for getting rich quick the easy way.
Regardless, the fact remains that quick and easy money has become the preferred route for far too many Bahamians.
This siren message echoes throughout today’s Bahamas.
As a direct consequence, fewer and fewer Bahamians care or understand the true meaning of discipline, hard-work, diligent study or apprenticed learning.
This rot begins in homes where riot rather than order is the guiding motif; places where the only thing that is valued are the things that money can buy.
And so it arises in some so-called communities that generations under one roof can and do feed off the proceeds of crime. And for sure, if the gangster in charge is tough enough, rapacious enough – the proceeds of crime could be extensive.
But despite it all, we still believe that – at the core – Bahamians [in their vast majority] yearn for genuine community.
And like people around the world, so-called ordinary Bahamians want to know that the schools work; that the hospitals provide good health care; that they have sufficient food; access to proper housing; that they are protected; and that they are allowed space in which to live out their allotted days in dignity; [and for sure], that the courts dispense justice as opposed to delay piled upon delay.
These and other so-called simple things are the matters that concern the people most.
So-called ordinary people also know the risks they run whenever they are obliged to follow blind leaders. And that is why so very many of these people now despair. They feel it in their bones that for want of effective leadership, this nation is perishing.
