It's great to be back home. Jamaica is nice but home is home. President Obama is making some headway with his stimulus plan, shutting down the Guantanamo Bay Correctional Facility and meeting with the Joint Chiefs to sort out the wars America is fighting. Clearly the man is on a mission. Hopefully he can continue to keep up this momentum.

However, let's turn our minds to problems here in Bermuda.

We already have had one road fatality this year and this happened before we were halfway through January! Then we had a fight at the Wine Cellar where my boy Denny O'Connor is just trying to run a small, classy nightclub, to provide some entertainment in a country that complains about the lack of nighttime entertainment options. Then we have the continued gang violence, brutality, assaults and attacks. What gives people? When will it stop?

More on this after The Top 20.

Back to the top is is Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by Beyonce.

Making the big jump to number two is Chopped and Screwed by T Pain featuring Ludacris, a former essential new tune.

Tumbling to number three is Right Here by Brandy, thanks to the dance mix.

Up to number four is Trading Places by Usher.

Jumping to number five is Sandcastle Disco by Solange, Beyonce's little sister. Check out the dance mix of this one as well, it kicks.

Falling to number six is Live Your Life by T.I. featuring hot girl and Bajan Bombshell Rihanna.

I Hate This Part, by the Pussycat Dolls, falls to number seven.

Dropping into the number eight spot is Miss Independent by Ne-Yo.

Up to number nine is Miles Away by Madonna, who continues to impress and produce hits.

Improving to number ten is Pop Champagne by Jim Jones featuring Juelz Santana.

Falling to number 11 is the hip and cool new track by John Legend and Andre 3000, entitled Green Light.

Slipping to number 12 is the new one from Jazmine Sullivan entitled Bust Your Windows.

Sliding to number 13 is Whatever You Like by T.I.

Up to number 14 is Keyshia Cole featuring 2Pac with Playa Cardz Right.

One More Drink, the monster hit by Ludacris and T Pain, improves to number 15.

Up to number 16 is Womanizer by Britany Spears.

Slipping to number 17 is Mrs. Officer by my namesake Lil Wayne featuring Bobby Valentino and Kidd Kidd.

Down into the number 18 spot is the new hit from Ne-Yo, entitled Closer.

Now, this week's essential new tune. In at number 19 is Beyonce's new hit, Diva. You just have to hear it; it kicks. Enough said.

New at number 20 is She Got Her Own, by Ne-Yo featuring Jamie Foxx and Fabolous.

Now back to this week's words: What's going on Bermuda?

As I type this I'm reminded of Marvin Gaye's song What's Going On? There is something in the lyrics for us and they go as follows: "Mother, mother, there's too many of you crying. Brother, brother, brother, there's far too many of you dying. You know we've got to find a way, To bring some lovin' here today. Father, father, we don't need to escalate. You see, war is not the answer. For only love can conquer hate. You know we've got to find a way, to bring some lovin' here today."

There's something in those words that still resonates today, even though the song was produced back in the 1970's. There are too many young men dying in Bermuda from violence or accidents on our roads.

How do we fix this? We've all thrown out many solutions and although I'm not a quitter, I'm thinking we must have tried almost everything.

A way forward, however, must start in the home. Parents must take accountability for their kids' actions. Sorry, but when you let go, you leave them to their own devices. From the time a child is born until you die, you are their parent and you are therefore responsible for them.

Parents need to accept that everything a child does or says is a reflection on them and their family name. Thus, parents need to instill this sentiment in their children, so that when the kids go out into the world they do not do anything that will discredit or bring shame upon their parents and their family. For some reason these days you don't hear parents instilling this message and there are few children who fear embarrassing their families by their activities.

There are little things we can do like wearing a school tie properly and with pride, "because I am a Berkeleyite", which used to instill self esteem and an understanding of a higher standard in kids, even though they rebel against it. You see it later on, because where pride is instilled in children and/or high standards and expectations are set, there is a resulting higher standard of achievement.

It is said that human beings normally perform and function at the standard expected and set for them, unless they are the special few who will simply always perform above and beyond the norm. Thus, if we set higher standards for our kids, in time they will raise to the level of expectation set. The lowering of the passing marks in the education system was a debacle of huge proportions.

We can find as many experts and people with Doctorate degrees as we want, but until we set higher standards, fewer and fewer of our children will reach their full academic potential. There is something good and right happening in the private schools that many of us in Government like to ignore or deny.

We need to get our silly heads out of the sand and admit when the other guy is better and is kicking our collective butt. I learned this in sports and it is, what it is. Sometimes the other guy is just doing things better than you. You have two choices - stop playing and get out of the game or try to improve and get better.

This can work with education as well. Let's not be so bullheaded that we will not even look at what they are doing in private schools to see what they are doing well, and try, where practical, to implement those measures into the public schools. Don't get me wrong, private schools have their problems as well, but they are turning out a higher standard of student and a greater percentage of higher achievers than my beloved Berkeley and Cedarbridge.

We need to also go back to where the entire village raises the children and looks out for them. There are too many children walking around late at night looking for something to do. It is certain that they will find trouble if they are out late. Children need their rest and should be home early, doing homework, getting something to eat, getting a bath, getting their clothes and materials ready for the next day, be it a school night or even a weekend.

There is too much to do for kids to be out running around wandering aimlessly. All the things mentioned above take hours and cannot reasonably be completed before 9 p.m., which is the time when children under the age of 16 should be in their beds, in order to get nine or ten hours of sleep. If kids are getting up at 6 a.m. to leave home by 7:15 a.m., to be at school by 8:30 a.m., this is the timeline involved. They should be in bed by 9 p.m. to get nine hours of sleep. Without nine and ten hours of sleep kids cannot concentrate or perform properly in school. This has been statistically proven to be true and anyone with half a brain will not argue against this assertion.

We also have to improve and raise the standards of our curriculum in all the schools. Anybody on the island you speak to knows that the elementary schools are actually doing OK; but that once your child goes to middle school problems begin to occur. There is something in that for the education experts to consider.

I will somewhat contradict my earlier statement that 'any child can learn in any system if they are provided with the correct support system at home'. This only works in some of the cases and notwithstanding the statement, our public schools are not producing good numbers of high achievers. It is, what it is.

So, in addition to parents doing their jobs well and taking personal responsibility for their child's development, we do need to improve the curriculum and structure of education.

Lastly, and I always go back to this, we need Jesus in our lives and especially in the lives of our children. Take them to church and Sunday School. Get them involved in youth choirs and youth activities. The kids that are involved in these kind of groups usually turn out ok.

Then there is nothing wrong and, in fact, everything good about putting children in extra curricular activities. It is crazy to see young kids wandering around town after school or around the island with no activities. Soccer, cricket, basketball, golf, tennis, ballet, dance, tap, music lessons, horseback riding, there are many options and they all don't cost a whole lot of money.

Here's to hoping we can take back control of our children and direct them to succeed and become decent, law-abiding, contributors to society, as opposed to the alternative, of which we are seeing too much these days.

Peace…