I am not here to write about a white Christmas. Nor am I here to write about Rudolph.

As a matter of fact, I am not here to write about the North Pole. Not at all.

Perhaps, I could talk about our national addiction to eggnog — both the plain and the “flavoured” versions.

However, today I want to write about Wakanda.

You may very well be asking: “Where the heck is Wakanda?”

Is it somewhere in Africa?

Is it somewhere on a movie set in Hollywood?

Is it up at the Fairmont Southampton for the next Progressive Labour Party Gala?

Is it up at CedarBridge Academy at the next union party?

Actually, Wakanda cannot be found at any of those locations.

Why do I say that?

Simply put, Wakanda is a fictional place with idyllic settings, with the following as key attributes:

• Different tribes of people living and working together for the betterment of all

• Different tribes of people investing time and money into technology and scientific improvement

• Different tribes of people supporting each others businesses

• Different tribes of people fiercely proud of their elders

Sounds like an economic and social utopia, if ever there was one. Correct?

Today, I am here stating that as a country we better start thinking and acting like Wakandans.

We are different tribes — in neighbourhoods, in schools and, yes, in Parliament — yet, unlike Wakandans, we fail to work together for the betterment of all.

As we all know, historically, one tribe has used political and economical power to suppress the other tribe.

So much so that the oppressed tribe has learnt from the oppressive tribe that they then started oppressing and infighting with each other in multiple ways.

That infighting has only served to stifle our growth as a people for the past five decades.

As a few prime examples:

We fail to support each other’s businesses whenever one of us takes a leap of faith to go out on their own.

Hence, many of our businesses fail within five years.

We have failed to pass on from one generation to the next skilled trades such as masonry, carpentry, motor mechanics and plumbing. This results in us having to import skilled labour while our people are unemployed and underemployed.

When our elders reach their golden years, we fail to keep them in the very homes they spent their entire lives to build.

Instead, we place them in group homes where they feel as if they have been abandoned in their last days.

We have political power because we stuck together as a people. Our next goal must be economic power.

So, no, I am not going to play hypocrite and sing Jingle Bells. Nor am I going to sing that “I saw Granny get run over by a reindeer”.

We have far too many pressing issues that we must all take individual and collective responsibility for, and we must do so in earnest.

Essentially, these are values that no government, anywhere, can legislate and/or mandate. To my fellow Bermudians, for the year 2019 onward, we must think and act like Wakandans.

Christopher Famous is the government MP for Devonshire East (Constituency 11). You can reach him at WhatsApp on 599-0901 or e-mail at cfamous@plp.bm