Thank you for providing a safe place for me where I could experience life where people of colour are in positions of power and influence.
Thank you for the richness and diversity of your culture and people that has equipped me to dwell in harmony with people from many different countries through an understanding and appreciation of their outlook and cultural practices.
Thank you for my education both in and out of the classroom and for bringing me into contact with people who taught me values and practical skills that helped to make me a more rounded individual. Thank you for fostering a tolerant and forgiving society to understand and pardon my indiscretions and mistakes and help keep me on the straight and narrow.
Thank you for the natural environment that has brought me so much peace and joy with the beauty and wonder of its varied habitats and creatures.
Thank you for the people who helped me to understand and interpret that environment and the seasons, giving names to the plants and animals, defining our reality and explaining the interconnectedness of it all.
But now I weep for you my country, I despair for what we have become.
Drugs, violence and callous disregard for life have come to dominate the lived experience of our communities. We have turned our backs on the sea, defiled our mountains and putrefied our rivers. We seem to have forgotten our proud, unique history and the sacrifices that our ancestors made to provide a safe haven of abundance for us.
But all is not lost. Everywhere life is full of heroism from ordinary people who do not make it into the news. Politicians don’t have all the answers.
We must learn to recognise these people, encourage and emulate them wherever we can as they wrestle with the elements to provide for their families—in the fields, on the sea, on the oil rigs, in the factories and processing plants, in the schools and hospitals, in the home and in our communities. There is a way back. I believe this because I am an incurable dreamer with a tiny spark within me that refuses to die. This spark speaks to me of hope, of faith, of love that, in the midst of the foulest decay, the most putrid savagery against our souls, can prevail and restore our land.