I am currently on vacation, and in between resting and spending time with family and friends, I have chosen to keep myself busy reflecting on what is transpiring in the land of my birth. I have taken time to research and to get a better understanding of the issues involved and I have even compiled a collection of papers by a wide variety of experts, at home and abroad, who have voiced their concerns on many aspects of our constitution and electoral system, on where the deficits lie and what needs to be done to correct them.
Also the more I listen to the chatter on the radio waves and internet, the more and more I am convinced that the UNITY team is providing an alternative to the status quo and will form the catalyst that can help us correct these deficits, and moreover, help us to overcome the disunity, disharmony and divisiveness that has infiltrated every institution of our society from our schools, churches, families, parliament and our Federation.
Given all that is happening around us today, it boggles my mind why the apologists for the incumbents are hell-bent in supporting the status quo and instead of being supportive of this new dispensation, spend so much of their skills, talents and energy in “dissing” the UNITY team. It seems they are spending an inordinate amount of time in taking the splinters from the others eyes, before they remove the beam from theirs. Also the more I try to engage their reason, the more irate and irrational and condescending they become, all for the sake of propping up a system that is in disrepute and decay.
This does not make any sense to me, and I have been rolling over in my head why two groups of people can be so passionate of their beliefs and convictions, in spite of all of the evidence being so clear to me and many others in the Federation. And the conclusion that I am being led to is that what we see among us here today is a clash of two types of belief systems, one that is a top-down system based on Stealth, Confusion and Lies, and the other a bottom-up system that is based on Sharing, Caring and Love. Interestingly, the former system is being managed by Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL 1.0), and the latter is being empowered by a team (SCL 2.0) that is Spiritually-guided, Compassion-centered and Learning-focused.
What is more intriguing and inspiring and reassuring about this team is that their members do not meet in a command and control manner, for they do not believe the wisdom of our community lies in a handful of people at the top. They do believe that the true wisdom of the community lies in the diversity of the aspiration, visions and hopes of the least among us at the bottom, and not the few at the top. They realise that they are called to be stewards and servants of the community, and not the other way around.
One may wonder how is all of this possible, and how can such a decentralised network of people of goodwill and kindred spirit be able to talk with one voice without tripping over each other and impacting negatively on the other? For me the answer is simple, and comes down to 1) putting the least among us in our society at the center of every thought, word and action, and 2) looking to implement policies that focus on the highest common denominator among us all, and which deals predominantly with our health, education, food and energy security, and creating an environment of shared prosperity for all to thrive, as opposed to one of just political and economic survival.
To be even more blunt and to use spiritual metaphors here to illustrate how this is easier to achieve than we think, we can break this down to a clash of two world views or two narratives, which I would call “A Tale of Two Kingdoms”: one that is based on the Kingdom of Mammon, and the other that is based on the Kingdom of God. (Please see: The Four LOVES Deconstructed – an illustrated guide to the Kingdoms of God and Mammon.)
The political and economic status quo is based on the Kingdom of Mammon, in which greed, physical capital and servitude of its people defines their operating system, whereas in the Kingdom of God, needs, human and mental capital, and service reign supreme. In the former, maximising power and control is the supreme law of the land, while in the later, maximising wellbeing and opportunities is the supreme guiding spirit.
I have no doubt that the machinations and crises we see locally, regionally and internationally are due to us losing our way and not opening up our ears and hearing the lamentations of our Father up above when he cries, “My children, My children, why have you forsaken Me!” He has already designed a perfect world for us, but we have created our own tower of political and economic confusion, the proverbial Tower of Babel in our midst. Once we stop and listen to the unity of nature and all that there is, we can transform our nation from one based on the Kingdom of Mammon, to one based on God’s Kingdom. We need now to work together in unity to ensure that we are not the servants of our economic and political systems, but our economic and political systems serve us to help maximise the wellbeing of our citizens and by extension the wellbeing of our environment that we so much depend on.
This cannot happen if we continue to fight with each other and not work together in UNITY. We need to stop “dissing” UNITY and give it an opportunity to blossom and be fruitful. We need to approach this grand project of rebuilding our nation with a new covenant of faith, hope and love, one guided by gratitude, responsibility and service, and above all, one buttressed by a vision for the betterment of our people and the next generation based on the fidelity of the mind, sincerity of the heart, and with FULL CONFIDENCE in God that he would send his Holy Spirit to guide us.
Doc ,I am totally disappointed to hear you say that the unity mirage offers the best hope for the reconstruction of our Federation. How can you arrive at such a conclusion when the mirage has not up to now offered any blue print of the way forward? Are these people offering a mending and a welding of the peoples of the Federation? Do you hear their language Doc? One of their officers has confessed that it is an experiment and, at some time or other the mirage will disintegrate and every body will go their several ways. Does this not smell of disaster Doc? Does this not smell like a red herring where some body is trying to get something and get some where by riding on to the backs of others? Come on Doc. My grand mother used to say, “A bird in the hand is worth forty in the bush.” She also said It is better to deal with the devil you know than to deal with an unknown angel” If you have to search the internet and research the history of the first International Workers Day, you will be aware of why we are holding on to the Labour party. I have told you times repeated to let me sit you dowm and teach you the history of the struggles of the working class people in St. Kitts. I do not mean to be disrespectful to you Doc, but my observation is that, although it is the same very working class who are patronizing your business, you are totally unable to blend and to bond with our struggles. The only organization that has truly worked in and for the interest of the working class people is the St. Kitts, Nevis Labour Party. I cannot begin to comprehend how you could be suppotive of a mirage which is propelled by personal ambition, greed and men whose foreheads bear the sign FOR SALE. They have sold out the working class people of the land. Lindsay Grant was caught on video selling out our patrimony and he is part of the unity mirage. If he is not in power and he is selling out our patrimony, what will happen when we endow him with the legal authority to do so by placing him in political office?My good friend, I challenge you to point out even one programme that the mirage has offered us to prove that they are worthy of recognition? I also challenge you to provide me with one shred of evidence to prove to me that the unity mirage is a binding and a healing force? Please bear in mind that your parents banged water to come here. Your charming wife also banged water to come here. Are these encouraging words to rebuild our society and for us to start anew? Are these utterances which are intended to bind us together in love, peace, and harmony? Words are powerful weapons Doc and the adage”What comes out of the mouth” I know who I am and I am not letting go sure for unsure. May God’s richest blessings continue to fall on you and they will cotinue to fall on you because you are a good person and I will always treasure you as my friend Despite our different social backgrounds and political belief
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Mr. Clarke: Why do you keep insisting that UNITY is a mirage? When the Workers League was forming, do you think the establishment at the time said the same thing that it was a mirage? I bet you the establishment used every legal means at their disposal to suppress them? Don’t you see history repeat itself now?
Well said again, keep that message alive , united we stand divided we will certainly fall !!
Bichara, be it the top down or bottom up approach, the one entity our politicians MUST encounter at some point is “the electorate”! When the people have been short changed, trampled on or endured enough, they will stop at nothing to see the backs of their oppressors.
Those politicians and stalwarts who parted ways with the current government are no angels. There is none so perfect, however an intricate examination of some of the maneuvering in our justice system, in our police force, our constitution, government funded:operated entities just to name a few, tells us that something is amiss with the way things are! Does loyalty to a politcal party trump commitment to serve the people?
A glimpse alone into our history tells us why we are here having a discussion about Unity.
People have seen SKN under PAM Leadership and under LABOUR leadership!
We are here because both have been corrupt and both have committed varying degrees of wrong The electorate is willing and ready for something new! Something away from divisive and tribal politics!
Unity is here! Unity is NOW!
Correentje, it is the electorate/citizens that is the base of the bottom-up system. It is they that lead by setting the agendas of the politicians. It is they who plays the tune that the politicians have to dance to, and not the other way around as it is in a top-down system.
That is why it is incumbent that people like you who can see the light at the end of the tunnel continue to enlighten, and engage the citizens/electorate to rise to the occasion and lead the way. Although the politicians in UNITY will be called upon to help facilitate the change in the healing process, it is the electorate that is going to be the engine of this social transformation. We have seen that absolute power corrupts, and even the checks and balances of the Constitution, the separation of powers of government or even the regional and international communities are impotent in preventing the corruption that transpired in both administrations since our Independence. As you have said, it is the electorate that is going to be the saving grace, with the Almighty’s help of course, to help us get our bearing straight and bring our ship of state back on course, and keep our politicians transparent and accountable.
Let us say never again to divisive and tribal politics, that have been used against us at the bottom to do the bidding of those at the top.
Please continue to lead the way and continue to inspire all of us.