The Tribune

By Ian Ferguson

Much has been said to business persons during this holiday season about being safe and taking certain precautionary measures to ensure their property and lives are preserved, and protected, during these festive times. We have been given all of the warning tips by the law enforcement agencies; we have been sold the surveillance equipment by the merchants; and most smart business persons are well equipped for managing criminal behaviour and activity during this active crime season.

While all of these efforts are good and necessary, they all fit into the category of preventative, and do not provide solutions to the root causes. Dare I say, our key challenge during the holiday season is that far too many Bahamians (young men, in particular) find the opportunity to sit and plot how they will sustain themselves and earn a living unlawfully, acquiring the assets of the hard-working business person and citizen.

Our conversation today, then, will take a slightly different twist as we speak broadly to the community at large in addressing a vexing social ill that adversely impacts the business community and the Bahamas at large.

Researchers all agree that one of the key ‘root’ problems in African diaspora and Latin communities is the ‘Absent Father’. Far too many men in our country have viewed impregnating women as the chief indicator of male prowess. They are irresponsible - from the highest to the lowest - in having large numbers of children whom they are unable and unwilling to care for.

The burden, then, is placed on the also irresponsible woman who, in her desperation for love and affirmation, has been ‘swung’ by the sweet talking ‘scrub’ and falls victim. So the cycle of illegitimacy continues in our communities, producing the social mess and economic dilemma we find ourselves in.

I venture to be bold enough in saying that children who grow up in a home where the father is present, providing the love, resources, discipline and emotional support a child needs to be ‘whole’, very seldom find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Our problems begin when children are allowed to run amok because the mother is frustrated and worn down in trying to do all that a father has been given legal and spiritual authority to do.

This Christmas season, we admonish every father in the nation to do their part in addressing our crime situation and statistics. GO HOME, and whatever the relationship you have or don’t have with the women who bore these children, demonstrate tangible love for those you know are yours. It is the extreme levels of hurt in these children and young people, because of what they have endured as a result of your absence, that causes the nation to be in this perplexing situation. Hurting people hurt people, and damaged people try to damage others.

Whether you have a dollar to give or not, what your child needs most of all is your love, support and affirmation consistently. Give that gift to your child and to our nation this Christmas.

• NB: Ian R. Ferguson is a talent management and organisational development consultant, having completed graduate studies with regional and international universities. He has served organsations, both locally and globally, providing relevant solutions to their business growth and development issues. He may be contacted at tcconsultants@coralwave.com.