The Tribune

By REV CANON SEBASTIAN CAMPBELL

LET US make the second Monday in October a local community affair. Every community/settlement on every island is empowered to cause a celebration to take place.

In local communities, as the years roll on, we need to incrementally identify and celebrate “grassroot” nation builders. These are our local heroes, our saints. I congratulate those communities that have already received the spirit and are well into the planning of events.

Chief among them are Bains and Grants Town and Fox Hill. They have done it before and are now perfecting the same. Our nation builders are our home grown saints uncanonised by the Pope but acknowledged and canonised by our people of goodwill in search of role models.

There must be no confusion as to what we are celebrating. We forgive the “back-to-Egypt” campaigners, holding on dearly to the “Discovery/Columbus Day” concept. They really need to let go and press on.

Others try hard to dovetail the old name and the new designation together using a slash (/). I pray for their mental and spiritual liberation. The second Monday in October is to be celebrated as National Heroes Day. October 12 remains Discovery Day; it’s only the holiday that has been fixed to the second Monday in every October and is to be celebrated as National Heroes Day.

I accept this as a gift from God that can only aid us in our mental and spiritual liberation. Come let us join hands in entrenching this spiritual day now in the psyche of our nation. It’s still brand new, so the time is now for us as a people to come up with appropriate celebrations that can only be enhanced with usage.

The nation needs a mechanism in place to help evolve a national celebration of events of which we can be proud as a people. Remember, the British indoctrinated us in an ever-so-intentional way through the celebrations of holidays.

These were teaching moments that wrote on the hearts of colonial subjects that “white is right.” “All good things come from abroad ….” and so on. We marched in the heat of the sun singing “Don’t let the old flag down” .

The government today must put a National Cultural/ Coordinating Commission/Committee in place that is mandated to run with this ball, otherwise nothing of meaning will happen and nothing will be sustained. I truly hope and look forward to some great announcement on some form of a celebration that should be forthcoming soon.

Our advancement hinges on our people feeling good about themselves. We must uplift our own people. We must identify role models, heroes, worthy to be followed by our young generation. Our young children need to know our people. We need to celebrate who we are. Let’s make a celebration take place.

National Hero must be the highest honour a country can give to its citizens. This must be presented as our highest award. I am made to understand that the new honours system has not gone before Parliament as yet, although I am convinced it was passed along with the National Heroes Bill. The public needs some clarity on this.

The old colonial honours must be abolished, forever from among us. It has served its time; we must march on to glory, now, yearning for things Bahamian. Heroes Park is set to be established at Clifton, but “when, O lord, when?” Such a great cultural advance beckons us to be mature and serious enough to know we must bring it into force.

This is the holiday where we can indoctrinate our children and cause lessons to be entrenched in people and thus intentionally cause a mental cleansing to take place. The children are the future, let’s treat them that way.

Many Bahamians find it really hard - nigh impossible - to abandon the British trappings only because foundations were intentionally sunk into our very being. If there is to be hope we will - and we must - pull our children into leadership.

We have far to go to catch up, but the longest journey begins with the first step. That first step has been taken: come let us hold hands together and bear hope in our dark and unfulfilling areas. Thank God for giving them to us. To do otherwise would be ungrateful.

God has given us these jewels, now we celebrate in joyful thanksgiving. We are road blazers; do not allow the next generation to accuse our generation of slunking and fumbling the ball.

To God in all things be the Glory.