"Making a fortune is simple. All you need to do is find something worthless and give it value."

I read this statement in a recent online article on the BBC website. The author was referring to his discovery that if a substance we all throw away is made useful, this once useless substance becomes something of value.

In this time of global economic recession and waning public support, even the British monarchy has learned the value in this strategy. In the UK, much ado has been made of the "new look" British Monarchy with its modern website and new YouTube channel. However, a simple glance at history reveals that this technique by the British Monarchy of making something of no intrinsic value to the majority appear to be of great value has long been its mode of operation, particularly in regard to its involvement with its colonies and the Commonwealth.

How does such an outdated tradition, one that is losing favour in its own place of origin, and is under increasing public scrutiny for its discriminatory practices such as gender and religious bias on royal succession and high maintenance costs, continue to have such a hold on places like Bermuda even in the 21st century?

The recent royal visit to Bermuda provides some answers to this question and demonstrates the effectiveness of its strategy well. More importantly to the concerns of a 21st Century Bermuda, the visit also serves to highlight the cost we as a society continue to pay in terms of our national identity and national psyche by our identification as "subjects of the Crown".

Let me make it clear from the start, I am not an anti-monarchist. As a Bermudian born of mixed African, Portuguese (Madeira) and native American descent, I am quite aware that I may be a descendant of a tradition of monarchy. I have to use the disclaimer "may" because my ancestral line includes former slaves and indentured workers. Records of my ancestry were either poorly kept or not kept at all, as is expected for persons of those socio-economic classes.

However, as a person of this mixed ancestry who has sought to fill the void of my ancestral heritage through research, I can only dream that part of my history may have included monarchies such as those of the Moorish Kingdom of Iberia, the First Nations of America, the Zulu Kingdom of South Africa, the Ashanti Kingdom of West Africa, the Mali Empire of North Africa or even the ancient Solomonic dynasty through the Ethiopian empire.

For many Bermudians, this dilemma of ambiguity in regards to ancestral origins is the same. This lack of knowledge of self brings with it serious problems, for as the African proverb of 'Sankofa' teaches "in order to know where one is going, one must first know where one is coming from". If only we could teach our children to feel as much excitement for the royal traditions that may be part of their ancestral heritage as they displayed during the recent royal visit!

Indeed, the British monarch has visited Bermuda several times in her reign as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth but despite the same levels of public adulation, media coverage, pomp, circumstance and above all, cost, the vast majority of Bermuda's population has never gained significantly from these visits economically, much less socially. In reality, the visits of the British monarch set us back as a nation more than they take us forward.

In this time when national service is being suggested as one of the solutions to help rid our communities of senseless violence, our national psyche has been given a body blow through the indoctrination of another generation into seeing themselves as British rather than as Bermudian. The little they knew about themselves before now has to fight with conflicting images of identity that are fundamentally inaccurate, and at their worst, deceptive.

This conflict was made even more apparent by the opinions expressed by members of the public. Statements such as "She's a sign of unity in this troubled age" reveal myopia and phrases such as "She's the mother of Britain and the Commonwealth" reveal opinions severely at odds with reality.

Unity denotes oneness, and while our local government continues to call on the Royal representative here in Bermuda to do more to protect our citizens, community members continue to protest against one of the only systems of military draft still existent in the modern world, cries of outrage are being raised against allegations towards sexual molestation in the Bermuda Regiment and our democratically elected government is told they are "not competent to negotiate", it becomes clear that the Bermuda society is far from being "one" with its British colonial masters. To insinuate that locally or any in the Commonwealth should identify with the British monarch as "mother", symbolic or not, is even more ludicrous. No loving mother treats her children as subjects, usurps their land or takes away their freedom to self-govern.

Let not Turks and Caicos be forgotten before we befall the same fate. Instead, the young were championed for comments on the colour of the Queen's dress or the vanity of a jewelled broach. Is this the depth of value that we hope to impart to our youth? Are these the values that we are hoping will save their beleaguered generation?

Another generation has been psychologically bamboozled into associating the British monarchy with values that are actually counter to the reality and at odds with core elements of their heritage. Pomp and circumstance has never, and will never, equate to morality and just reason for unabashed praise.

How clear does it now become the "drought" that is our national identity, the effect of this royal "mirage" on our national psyche and how thirsty those in this place of cultural "famine and drought" must be? The royal visit laid bare the impact of colonialism on the group psyche of a colonised people and it was clear that despite several decades of self-governance, Bermuda still lacks true national self-identity.

It revealed how deeply entrenched the cultural and psychological wounds of slavery and colonialism run in our community and how long the effects are felt by those who suffer these injustices long after the initial act occurs. We as a society are too quick to encourage adoration of symbols that are totally foreign to the indigenous identity of the majority of Bermuda's people, whether they are of American, British or some other origin.

Why is this important? The psyche of the individual defines the community, community psyche defines the nation and it is the national psyche that serves as the foundation from which all development must occur. Let's look for our true value within all our stories, not a select few. Until we accept the truth of our past and the reality of our present, we cannot begin to write accurately the rest of this story or to pass on to our upcoming generation the chapters necessary to complete the book.