easy may be the solution for some places but it must not become the norm for Bermuda. Too often we import the worst that we experience abroad or see on TV.

Bermuda is a quality Country with a quality people who are well educated, talented and capable. We are spending huge amounts of time and endless sums of money educating our children to standards which the world can envy. We seek the best for them and we must also seek the best for their home.

We are only caretakers of today's Bermuda. We have a duty to our children to protect their inheritance. We also have a duty to ourselves to leave behind us a better Bermuda. We can only do that by doing the best we can for our Country. Far too often people take from Bermuda and give very little back.

We should look at physical Bermuda and ask how much is being ruined by bad development or unnecessary development and how much is being exploited for personal gain? It is time for the people to take a look at their political representatives.

If you were an employer would you hire your MP? How much did your MP contribute to Bermuda before asking for your vote? Does the candidate want to serve Bermuda or to get the salary, the pension and the position? Has your MP or your area candidate been a personal success? Is your candidate seeking a House of Assembly seat to make a living after personal failure? We should not be electing people who are there because they need a job or are there for the position or the power. We have to be careful to send the best and the brightest to Parliament. Bermuda needs achievers who are well educated and interested in serving Bermuda, not in helping themselves.

Very similar questions should be asked of our tourist industry. Bermuda was the best. Is it still the best? Bermudians travel a great deal. We should look at what we provide for visitors and ask if it is better than what we look for in other resorts. Compare Bermuda to your own experiences. If it does not come out well then we all have to make it better. Look at the hotels. Are they what you would expect for a similar price? Look at the restaurants and ask the same questions. Look at transportation and see if you would be well served.

The above are only examples of what we can do. Each of us should ask if the things we do are best for Bermuda. Small things ad up to big problems. Take signs as an example. Federal Express should have known that the FedEx signs on its vans contravened the law and so should the sign painter who put them there. But they tried it on and excessive signage is pollution. Look at house colours. People know that some colours are not in keeping with Bermuda's image of pastels and pinks but they use them anyway. That jars the senses. It is very clear that uncertain visitors riding mopeds are upset when raced by, tailgated or buzzed around by local riders. So why do we do it? After all, visitors feed us.

The list is much longer. We have to ask ourselves if what we want and what we do is best for Bermuda. Bermuda is the best of the islands. We invented island tourism. We have the success and the standard of living that all the others envy. Second best is not good enough. Making do will not do because Bermuda is too good for that. Adopting the worst that others offer is folly.

We have to do our best for Bermuda and we have to ask those in public office to do the same.