When President Obama gave the eulogy at the funeral of his former political rival, McCain, he said that despite their major differences and disagreements, they both realised that they were part of something that was bigger than themselves. They understood that “some principles transcend politics. Some values transcend party. They considered it part of their duty to uphold those principles and uphold those values” Said Obama “When all was said and done, we were on the same team. We never doubted we were on the same team.”
What are these ‘things’ in St. Kitts and Nevis that are bigger than ourselves to which we can all subscribe? First, we can all revel in our beautiful islands, our pleasant climate all year round and our relatively unpolluted air. We want our churches and schools to uphold the values like respect for each other and the sanctity of life that enable us to live peacefully with one another. We believe in fairness to all and a sense of justice.
We commonly believe that those who rob, steal and kill are not subscribing to values that are higher than themselves and that they exhibit a mean-spiritedness that lead to greed and fear instead of peace and love. Those who support these destructive elements are also destroyers themselves, unable to rise to the ‘rock’ higher than themselves.
Another rock under which we all expect to find shelter is the rock of INTEGRITY. We totally agree with Obama when he says “There are some things bigger than Party or ambition or money or fame or power…that there are things that are worth risking everything for, principles that are eternal, truths that are abiding…” INTEGRITY looms large in everyone’s life and those who cannot rise to this in any sphere of their lives are doomed to suffer sooner or later…sometimes also causing others in family and country to do so as well.
Finally, let us recognise the equality of all men and women and not classify them according to their birth, race, class or riches. Not only that, we must consider it our duty to lift each other up physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually whenever there is a need to do so.
As Joseph P. Bradley once said: “I know it is very hard to rise above the influences of party prejudice. Often, it almost drowns the sentiment of patriotism. Party rancor and party hatred are the last serpents which the genius of patriotism can crush”.
by Lorna Callender
