August 15, 2012Dear Sir,I don’t know if it’s the online blogs, but I don’t know who you all are anymore. I’m not that old (50 years) but this is not the Bermuda that I grew up in. Maybe we always have moaned and complained and blamed, but it was in our home or at a club and the whole world wasn’t listening in. We may have had differences and some mistrust, but not to the level it is today. Ask someone you know who is older than me. Ask them about their life in Bermuda. Whether they be black, white or Portuguese (I know they’re white but they had a different experience) and most will tell you that this bitter animosity towards each other didn’t exist.Generally we were happier. We were poorer (most of us anyway) but happier. We worked hard and we had a good life. We treated our tourists with respect and even love, not because of the money in their pocket, but because we were good people and that is how we were raised. We prospered (some more than others) and life was pretty good, then a few rich men dreamed up an idea to bring international business to our shores and money started streaming into Bermuda. Everybody was filling their pockets. You didn’t even have to work that hard or that good and you got money because it was flowing everywhere.But with this wealth came greed and envy and feelings of not having enough. (This is almost like a Bible story!) We didn’t care about our neighbour (we were too busy), we didn’t care about our tourists (more would come), we didn’t care about each other because we turned inward and became self serving. We have lost our way, Bermuda! Many of you blame it all on the arrival of EB and even the Progressive Labour Party as a whole. EB certainly manipulated the public and there are some in the PLP who are contributing to the problem, but we were lost long before he came back to Bermuda. We started losing our way when we put money before people, colour over individuality and choosing greed over love. It is physically impossible that everyone who was in the UBP and supported the UBP was a racist white dog that tried to keep black Bermudians down. It is physically impossible that everyone in the PLP and those that support the PLP are white hating black militants who want to rid the island of everyone that doesn’t look like them. Life isn’t that simple! As Bermudians, we are a group of families who were born on this rock and have raised our families here. Most of us want the same thing. Prosperity, love, safety, an enjoyable life and hopefully a better one for our children.We must stop blaming each other for every problem that exists in Bermuda. We have all contributed in some way. What have you done for your neighbour? When have you shown compassion or at the very least a friendly smile to someone who is different than you? It is easy to love someone like ourselves. It is a more noble exercise to love someone who shows hatred towards us. (Most people who hate are really hurting deep inside, whether they are aware of it or not.) We will not get out of this mess with an election and new Government. We need to start our healing brother to brother (yes I mean white and black). Governments come and go. Go ahead. Vote for who you think will do a better job, but you better back that up with a shift inside yourself as well. Get to know the man from a different race or economic background or nationality. Show him your humanity and your humility and then we will start the healing process. If we could only start this now before we die, what an amazing gift we would give to our children who call Bermuda home!DOWN DE ROADPembroke