Since Wheatake 77, I have been reflecting on the responses from B. V. Islanders and non-B. V. Islanders to the state of affairs in our homeland. I have heard, seen and felt appeals for us to change from the blaming game (not including critical analysis of the past and present) and unite to build a future commensurate with the needs and aspirations of our people, within the abilities, capabilities, and resources that God has given to us.
Today, our society is bruised and we need to confront and cool down the temperatures of anger, hatred and rhetoric so that we can analyze critically and rationally, as opposed to emotionally, the political, economic, and socio-cultural issues affecting and defining us, and carve out the best way forward for our existence. We need to bury "some of those hatchets" with which we are cutting our own throats. We have weakened the roots of our existence and destroy parts/aspects of the foundations upon which we have built our lives. We were taught from our mothers' knees, "honesty is the best policy" but are treading a slippery slope. We need greater doses of unity ( not comformity) within our hearts, to wade through and over the turbulent waters of our present existence. The ship will only sink if it takes in water. Therefore, we need to learn the art and skills of riding those turbulent waves of life intelligently, using the appropriate coordinates of our place in time. We can do this if we would only learn to love one another genuinely, respect and appreciate one another, and the graces and gifts with which God has endowed each of us, small and great. It is time to stop the bickering, allow the mistakes and misfortunes of the past to be lessons for governance and leadership and move to a more collaborative and respectable level of living. Unless we are prepared to develop, build and trust in and for one another, the canker of distrust will continue to invade, affect and destroy the Territory until its axe head is blown off with the gravity of the hovering stroke.
We have sinned and fallen short, but who have not sinned? Many persons try to take the "mote from the eyes of others while overlooking the beams in their eyes," which are more dangerous and damaging for humanity. Should a horse kill a sheep because it cannot mate with it? Should the horse destroy the pasture of the sheep because it cannot graze the ground? We all one sinful colour with black, white, brown, and yellow skins. The blood inside those skins is red and the red blood of the crucified one offers redemption, reform, and renewal abundantly. This offer is continuous and alive and provides opportunities to correct the mistakes of the past.
Let each of us, black, white, brown and yellow, take a deep, intrusive, and percipient look inside us, and purge those mindsets, attitudes, actions, and relationships which mitigate against the progressive future of the Terrotory and its people. We can do this collectively and individually. If the ship sinks all of us may not perish but will be adversely affected. Let us keep the ship afloat and on course under our control.
- Dr. Charles H Wheatley