on with your life''. He knows what he is talking about. He was born to a poor family with lots of children and has earned a doctoral degree, served in the United States Congress and is one of the most dynamic pastors in New York City with a huge congregation.

His message of self-reliance is certainly at variance with today's pervasive philosophy which says that if you can find someone else to blame for your failures you can lie down and quit. But he is not supportive of the neglect of ordinary people saying that governments should work together with the private sector and social services to improve the lives of ordinary people.

He cites education as "the key which opens the door to a successful future'', which will get very little opposition in a Country where so many people make sacrifices in order to push their children's education ahead.

His heavy message which is probably just as important in his area of New York City as it is in today's Bermuda is that we cannot afford to be tolerant of drugs because drugs breed violence. We have certainly seen that violence in recent times in Bermuda and his message should have been a lesson to those politicians listening to his speech who pushed Colin Coxall out of Bermuda and thus took the heat off the drug scene.

Dr. Flake says that drugs impact on the community, on the abusers, on sellers and on the family. "Anything which breeds violence in an area is something which has to be dealt with. It should be dealt with but dealt with fairly.'' He did point out what many people have long thought and that is that some drug dealers have a great natural business talent in an illegal trade which should be channelled into productive areas through discipline and education.

Dr. Flake, who has probably faced as much racism in his life as anyone, urges people not to blame racial problems for their personal failures. He says that people make wrong choices in their lives and blame racism. "They say it's a racial thing -- all too often what they mean by race is that when they had the opportunity to develop themselves, they let the time slip away.'' "Instead of looking inwardly, they look outwardly to the someone they can blame for what happened to their life. We must find ways to transcend race.'' That is a tough message in a time when it has become fashionable to excuse failure by claiming to be a victim, not always a victim of racism but simply a victim of anything and anyone. Dr. Flake's message is to stand up, take advantage of what you have and get on with your life. That has been a good, solid message through the ages.