Children, I am calling!

Children I am calling! Where are you??

If you recall this popular chant, I do not have to ask your age. You are over 40. They don?t play games like that anymore.

Today, it is rare to hear a parent call a name and ask the child to come in from play. That connection is missing because more and more children have nobody at home, young parents or no rules at all for terminating yard activity. Then again, more and more homes are being built without yards. So the children have more and more free time on their hands and that is why they are bored. If you recall an hour of play, you are definitely over forty because you remember how precious that hour was. It was not unusual for parents to have to call two or three times and the secret was to get in that house before they ?really raised their voice.?

Hearing your named called is important. Watch what happens when a church Minister thanks the committee for having a wonderful event and decides to mention sister Grace. The congregation does not know that sister Grace is under stress?.could be cancer, sad news about her son etc, all they hear is her name. How dare he call just one name? The fact that the event was an outstanding success makes no difference. The fact that the hall was packed and people left spiritually revived made no difference. What clogged Bermuda?s phone lines for almost a week is that he failed to mention the names of the rest of the committee.

Another activity that helps build self-esteem is to honour the people we see and work with everyday. We had a culture of doing this in churches and clubs and the general feeling was that you would eventually get your turn. Essentially you celebrated the person being honoured. But that seems to have changed or maybe as an adult I can see what might have always been there ? jealousy and resentment.

My first encounter came when we produced the book: ?Jazz on the Rock? in 1979. There were at least ten musicians who were contacted on a regular basis for interviews and photos but they were never available. Yet when the book was published they were the first to say they were left out and it was a bad book. This did not deter us because we went on to have a night to recognise outstanding senior musicians. What a caning we took. We chose a huge number , twenty-five, for the first year, but of course some had been left out. After six years we had honoured over 150. It should have been a joyous occasion but there was nothing but ?hatred? and anger because some people felt they should have been chosen first or second. It made no difference that we had consulted their professional union and the nominations had been made by their peers. They were not first.

Now, as the Minister of Community Affairs and Sport, I have seen it on a big scale. In 2004 Clarence Hill was NOT inducted into the Hall of Fame. All of the attention was focused on him and a campaign was launched by a group who did not even bother to show up in 2005 when he was included. Virtually no attention was paid to those who were included in 2004 and 2005. There were people who even stated they would never accept an award because they were NOT included first.

This attitude of wanting to be first is interesting and has probably been there since Adam and Eve. But there are times when we do not want to be called at all. Our charities need volunteers and our young people need mentors but people say ?don?t call my name.?

Luckily for us, we have a history of people going above and beyond their job descriptions to give back to the community. Sacrifice, dedication and commitment are just three words that come to mind to describe them. And if we were serious about ?the worth? of our people we would be naming roads and buildings after them to not only perpetuate their names but to also to remind us of good role models who walked this land to make it a better place. We have to start somewhere and of course face the objections raised. But at the end of the day, as responsible adults in our community, we have to ensure that our young people are made aware of the contributions of others.

I recently gave a presentation to a youth group. When I asked them to identify their heroes every foreign child in the room could name me an outstanding person from their country: Jamaica: Bob Marley; England: Sir Winston Churchill; America: JFK and India: Mahatma Gandhi, to name but a few. But Bermuda?s children sat there dumfounded. Blank!

This situation cannot continue. We cannot on the one hand say how much we admire Bob Marley, JFK, Sir Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks and ignore the heroes in our midst. That is hypocritical and a sign of a mindset that is brainwashed to believe that ?all contributions are equal? when in reality we know that some people do more than others.

Change that mindset and pride will develop. Bermudians will start to value themselves, be more positive and active. Only good will come from this and it will shift the mind set from a feeling of worthlessness to a place of value.

So at this time, I wish to call the name of a man who: was dedicated and committed to more than one cause; helped improve the lives of others and was very humble and unassuming; and worked tirelessly as an education officer, human resource officer, Senator and President of the Senate while being a husband and father. Why can?t we call his name and show him that we respect his contribution that is above and beyond his peers and make him a symbol of a national hero and role model? Why can?t we call the name of Albert Jackson and name a school in his honour?

Children, I am calling! I am calling on you to break the chains of ignorance that have us admire heroes from every other country but our own.

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