Twenty-six years of Independence...The future is bright!

By Anselm Caines

On September 19th of each year, my heart swells with great pride and patriotic fervour. For me and many others, it is the day of the year when we can allow ourselves to be swept up in complete celebration of living in this “Land of Beauty”. It is the day of the year, when everyone is beckoned to put aside all personal or political differences and sing from the same hymn sheet, where the words are reflective of the ideas and ideals of all Kittitians and Nevisians. Most importantly, this day is a time to celebrate all that St. Kitts and Nevis is and all that it can become. 

Over the past 26 years, we have witnessed tremendous growth and development as a nation that far exceed our physical size and natural resources. We have been richly blessed with leaders under whose stewardship the country has recorded rapid progress; and our athletes and academic scholars have shone and made us proud.  

While we celebrate our liberation from the tentacles of colonialism, much remains to be done on every front. In education, tourism, historical preservation and agriculture we have achieved so much but can still do much more. To my mind, however, national security warrants our most urgent attention, as crime and violence poses the single greatest threat to the social and economic well-being of St. Kitts and Nevis. Instead of tossing the blame around like a hot potato, maybe, just maybe, it would be more beneficial to our society if everyone simply acknowledges where they have fallen short over the years and seek to remedy this problem together. While I am no prophet, I am confident that a country with a future as bright as St. Kitts and Nevis can solve this critical problem of crime and confront the other challenges that we face. In many ways, however, the answer to these challenges lies within each individual, no matter their status or standing, demonstrating an unyielding commitment to seeing this nation to greater heights.

Consequently, we as a people must develop “an addiction to excellence”. This addiction to excellence must manifest itself in everything that we do. The teacher at the Charlestown Secondary or the Basseterre High School, who sees a child with the potential for greatness but lacks the means of realising such greatness on his own, must therefore go the extra mile so that that child can have what he dreams and be what he imagines. 

The environmental cleaners who traverse our islands, must realise that they, just as much as the CEO of the Tourism Authority or the General Manger at the Four Season Resort and Marriot Hotel, have an important role to play in promoting tourism in this country. For that reason, they must not be content at the end of their day’s work, if they see an empty soda bottle lining the sidewalk. They too must develop an addiction to excellence and keep our islands green and serene. Those in the medical field at the Joseph N. France and Alexandra Hospital, must not only be practitioners of medicine but also advocates for medicine, constantly agitating for every critical piece of medical equipment or drug to be made available in our health centres and our hospitals, so that our people are physically and mentally capable of propelling this nation forward. That is the addiction to excellence that we need in this country. That is the addiction to excellence, firmly rooted in the patriotic values that have steered the development of this nation over the past 26 years and that will help us to reach even greater levels of progress and prosperity in the years to come.

As we look towards an even brighter future, we must be mindful of the fact that such an addiction to excellence must be inculcated in our people from a very young age. It therefore demands that we instil in our children, a deep and abiding love for country and that we do not allow them to go into the future without a total comprehension of the struggles of the past. Only then will they seek to build on the rich legacy that has been bequeathed to them and understand just why it is we implore them to develop an addiction to excellence.

As it stands now, too many of our children are without knowledge of who our forefathers are or the significance of what they did. Too many children are without an understanding of the sheer effort it took to get us thus far. It is up to us, then, to teach them. It is up to us to remind them that freedom wasn’t for free. It only came about through the sacrifices and struggles of scores of Kittitians and Nevisians. It is up to us to teach them more than the simple textbook knowledge of Robert Bradshaw being our country’s first National Hero or Dr.  Kennedy Simmonds and Dr. Simeon Daniel being the first Prime Minister of St. Kitts & Nevis and Premier of Nevis, respectively. It is our responsibility to educate them about the work and the worth of pioneers like Uhral Swanston and Ivor Stevens. 

It is incumbent upon us to teach our children, particularly those at the Secondary level, that there is nothing shameful in showing respect and reverence when our National Anthem is playing. The duty is ours to let them know, every morning, as they walk through the door, that they carry the future of St. Kitts and Nevis in their school bags. These are but merely a few of the important messages that we ought to continually impart to the youth of this nation so that they can grow to appreciate the critical role that they have to play in consolidating all our achievements and ensuring St. Kitts and Nevis remains a place where “peace abounds”.

I really do hope that this year’s Independence celebration will inspire all our people to develop that addiction to excellence and honour their responsibility of shaping a bright future for our twin-island Federation. It is a responsibility that cannot be a part-time or an “on and off” affair but one which requires full and national, as opposed to partial or partisan commitment. In fulfilling this national responsibility, all of us, to paraphrase John F. Kennedy, must ask, not what St. Kitts and Nevis can do for us, but what we can do for St. Kitts and Nevis.  

Once these principals are wholly reflected in thought, word and deed, there is no doubt in my mind that all that is occasionally suggested to be wrong with St. Kitts and Nevis can be cured by all that is consistently right with St. Kitts and Nevis.

I am confident that “with God in all our struggles” and with a full appreciation and a practical application of the patriotic call of our motto: COUNTRY ABOVE SELF, the best is yet to come for this our great nation! Happy Birthday St. Kitts and Nevis...Your future is bright!