IT'S a shame Bermuda isn't in the business of cloning.

Imagine how the island would benefit if more of us were like Raheem Shakir. For those of you who missed last Friday, Mr. Shakir hired a medical student to work for his construction company for the summer. Instead of working on a building site, however, Sergio Virgil is spending his time volunteering at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) ? with pay from his construction boss.

The 23 year old is currently studying medicine at St. George's University in Grenada, with four-and-a-half years of schooling before him. His ambition is to become an orthopaedic surgeon.

The president of A-Tec Contracting Services Ltd. first hired Mr. Virgil to work for the construction company last summer. Impressed with his efforts, and his obvious determination to realise his career goal, Mr. Shakir 'hired' him again this year.

"Sergio was a good employee," he said. "He is in school and I thought this was the best way I could help him so that he is working in his field, as opposed to doing construction. He's a good, likeable and well-mannered person."

Wow. Consider the impact the opportunity has had on Mr. Virgil: "I felt worthy that someone would look at me in that light. To know that he would be willing to put me in an area to help me as opposed to putting me on a construction site where I'll be helping him . . ."

Asked of his future goals, he said: "To finish medical school, pass all my exams and be a positive model to somebody else."

And it gets even better. Mr. Shakir has done the same for others. Imagine the positive knock-on effect in the community.

Upon reading the article, I was moved to nominate Mr. Shakir for a Queen's honour ? I still feel he deserves some official acknowledgement ? but then questioned whether the awards denote the same degree of respect they once carried.

It was only a month ago that members of the Bermuda Independence Commission were granted Queen's Certificates and Badges of Honour for their work in preparing the Government's BIC Report.

Much has been said about whether certain members should or should not have accepted the award. My opinion is it should not have been offered in the first place ? especially when there are people on the island like Mr. Shakir, whose acts of compassion and good citizenry go unnoticed.

Compare the impact his actions have had on the community with those of the Commission ? a group of people paid to compile a report that in the end, wasn't even of stellar quality.

As put by Bermudians for Referendum spokesperson Michael Marsh: "I thought the awards were an absolutely scandalous development. I cannot understand why the members of the BIC team have not refused the badge for doing a lousy job and producing a flawed document. They should have resigned, in any case, before it was completed.

"I think the Premier has an awful nerve to try and shove it down the throats of the population when they couldn't even find out that there had ever been a referendum held in Bermuda before. They even brought in UN representatives who themselves had held referendums in their countries and yet the BIC Report couldn't find that out.

"It was a scandalous example of doing nothing for eight months and then producing a warped, biased report."

Perhaps a little harsh but then again, Mr. Marsh's efforts deserve official acknowledgement too.

PS: Good for you Robert Pires for speaking out against the effect politicians' racist comments have on the community. Finally, someone is willing to go on record and address the root of the cause.