THE PRICE OF FREEDOM Sir Lynden Pindlings Remarks at the 1990 Youth Convention of the Anglican Diocese of Nassau and The Bahamas including Turks and Caicos Islands, St. Johns College Auditorium, Sunday, August 19th, 1990 My generation has always believed that children are a gift from God, the author and giver of all things good. Sadly though, mankind is failing young people. Throughout much of the world children are the principal victims of all of societys most troubling ills. In this decade of the child, it is children, the fruit of humanity in developed and developing countries, who must quietly endure the ravages of war, hunger, poverty, disease, and illiteracy. In the so-called advanced countries of the world we are seeing evidence of a spiritual poverty, a sense of hopelessness and despair, that leads to drug addiction, crime, gang violence and other forms of anti-social behaviour, particularly among young people. And in The Bahamas we find ourselves struggling to deal with a spiritual poverty of our own as we try to respond to rising expectations in a rapidly changing economic, political and social environment. We are not a rich country, but we certainly are not poor. We do not have all we want; neither do we have all we need; but we do have more than most people have and for that we should be grateful. Everywhere people are struggling for the very things many of us take for granted. We have peace, stability, freedom of speech and religion and the right to go where we please whenever we please. The poor are still with us, and, like death and taxes, they will always be but, thank God, poverty does not stalk our land and everyone has access to basic health care and education. Millions of our neighbours, however, can only dream of living as we do. Yet, how many of us give thanks to God for the blessings he has bestowed upon us?
Posted on: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 23:35:20 +0000