The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The Bahamas has always had it share of problems, but I remember a time when Bahamians were generally regarded to be a noble, principled and decent people. A people who carried themselves with a certain dignity with the result that our country was often viewed with envy by other island states in the Caribbean. We were a country to be emulated, and in our communities the elders often did not compromise principles purely for profit.

Fast forward to May 7-9, 2015, and we see some young and not so young Bahamians behaving in public in a way that would make some blush were they to behave the same way in private.

It is in the name of economic gain and benefits to the economy we are told. But what about the moral and psychological price that will be paid as young impressionable eyes were allowed to believe that these salacious acts are just good fun?

How do we scold school children who are acting out what they are allowed to see either in the privacy of their homes or now on our streets?

In my opinion, Junkanoo Carnival has only served to cement in the psyche of some Bahamians the culture of a prostitution that already exists. That culture justifies its acts, however immoral, by pointing to the profits to be had. Some look down on marriages of conveniences, selling drugs, sweethearting and smuggling of illegals with some contempt, but why, isn’t there a profit in it?

Selling numbers used to be in that group too, but we all know what happened there.

As a nation we have prostituted our land, our future and now our people. We soon won’t have anything left to exploit for profit.

The Bahamas used to be a leader in the Caribbean, a nation others wanted to be like. That leader has now condescended to become a follower. How sad!

JB

Nassau,

May 12, 2015.