Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Change comes from you and me


How many of my fellow Bermudians are as exhausted as I am this morning? I am exhausted beyond words. Last night’s election was a nail biter right to the end. Adrenaline was pumping the whole time so that when the election was called, I was still wide awake trying to digest what had happened.
Filled with anticipation, hope and marvel at the change in Government last night. I thought there was a fighting chance that the OBA would get in but I never dreamed some of the upsets that occurred in their journey to victory. Were any of you as surprised as I was about some of the upsets?
Nevertheless, the people of my Island home have spoken. Asking for change. Asking for inclusion. Asking to be heard. Challenging each other to be held accountable for what we do and say. Challenging our new government to lead us in another direction to the one we have been going down.
Bermuda, like many other countries in the world, is struggling to find its place again. Treading gingerly with our heads barely above the waterline as we try to navigate out of a period of uncertainty, darkness and fear. Now our people have spoken loudly and clearly declaring without a doubt that we are open to change. Open to the new. Open to positive change and we’re tired of the negativity that has been so pervasive in the lead up to the election.
For those who voted, congratulations for using your voice. Your power of choice to bring about this outcome. Even those who voted for the incumbent government and lost, congratulate yourself for exercising your right to vote. To be heard. Though the outcome was not as you may have expected you still contributed to the result.
To those of you, who voted for the new ruling party, remember there is still a long and hard road ahead of us. We are not in the Promised Land yet. There are many forces outside and within Bermuda that are contributing to the place we find ourselves in as we are truly a cog in the wheel of the global platform we sit in. But every cog is important in making that wheel rotate so what we need to do is accept we are where we are meant to be. And move forward with unity, faith and purpose.
We must forget the negativity of yesterday and live in the present moment with faith that we have chosen the new government of the day to run our country. We must remember it takes all of us to help our country to rise up from the ashes, don its wings and fly again. Like the Phoenix, Bermuda has been given a new life, a new chance to shine and it is up to all of us whether we are PLP supporters or are OBA supporters to represent the change we want to see. To be a part of the present we find ourselves in. To live it with grace, forgiveness, compassion, faith, and abundance.
The election is over. Wounds need now to be healed. Rainbows need to found. Lack replaced with abundance. Despair with hope.
Bermudians went to the polls yesterday and consciously chose to change the direction of the Island, resoundingly so. Now we must work together to bring our country back together working together to effect the change we want to see.
Teddy Pendergrass’ voice crept into my head with a song I loved and used as my mantra when I young. “Wake up everybody. No more sleeping in bed. No more backward thinking. Time for thinking ahead. The world has changed so very much from what it used to be. There is so much hatred, war and poverty. The world won’t get no better if we just let it be. Nah, nah nah. The world won’t get no better if we just let it be. We've got to change it yeah just you and me. Need a little help. Can't do it alone. Wake up everybody!”
Enjoy the link to this song: http://youtu.be/6NfCZEmLJ1Y

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