Evicting excellence

March 1, 2010

Dear Sir,

For many years, my wife and I have benefited from the intellect, information, wisdom and wit of Roger Crombie's articles in our local press, and, understandably, it was with great sadness that we read his touching and compassionate farewell (captioned, No Country for Old Men, which should have been entitled, "No Country for Wise Men") in the February 27 Royal Gazette. His tender words revealed one who loves Bermuda as much as its thinking inhabitants appreciate what he has contributed. It is euphemistic to say that he will be sorely missed, and that there is, and will be, no one to replace him and continue his work, as no such talents reside here or will likely come (under present Government policies), only to be sent packing in a few years by a Government that seems disinterested in having such talent among us such a patent tragedy, a double loss: Mr. Crombie's and Bermuda's.

In most countries, talents such as Mr. Crombie's are viewed as "National Treasures", coveted by all who have access to them. It is difficult to accept that, in Bermuda, such iconic figures are capriciously washed from Bermuda's shores by government fiat, by leaders whose actions evince no appreciation of excellence. In sharp contrast, increasingly, the articles in the local press are written by locals with declining levels of clarity, syntax, vocabulary, metaphors, elegance, understanding, or the essential global perspective that intellect and education accord.

Conversely, Bermuda's press corps increasingly reflects Bermuda's confessed and much lamented educational level. A tiny island of 40,000 (voters), in the best of circumstances, can hardly be expected to produce talents such as Roger Crombie's, anymore than it can produce Olympic Gold Medallists, World Chess Masters, World Cup Champions, Poor Richard's Almanac, an Einstein, Poe, Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Twain, Buffett or Gates, although it can sometimes entice such luminaries to visit its shores and even live here a spell. If Bermuda wants to improve and to reach its elevated potential, it needs to attract, not cavalierly dismiss, such talents as Roger Crombie's, and, when they fall serendipitously into our press corps, we are (or were) blessed and should cleave to them.

As denizens of Bermuda since the mid-1970s and legal residents since the 1980s, we love Bermuda as much as Roger Crombie obviously does. We are not "political" people, and, as homeowners of very long standing, we have no need of work permits, nor have we studied the rules concerning same. Whatever good such policies may invoke, when they evict excellence, as they have by exiling the erudite Roger Crombie, work permits lower the intellect, culture and surely, in time, the wealth of Bermuda. This is not a win-win or even a lose-win for Bermuda; it is a lose-lose. Whatever can our leaders be thinking? Longing for that Bermuda spirit that seeks to attract excellence to its shores and (if it comes) to retain it,

A CONCERNED VOICE

Warwick

P.s. As we covet our position outside "the bullseye", kindly do not publish our names.