Some Leading Bahamians Take Their Leave

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

In cold countries more people die during the autumn and winter months than at any other time of the year. Many of these deaths – especially among older people – are directly related to the cold weather.

Age Concern, an advocacy group in Britain, says that eight pensioners will die every hour of a cold-related illness and that about 20,000 older people will die this winter in the UK.

Here in the Bahamas we have nothing to compare with a northern winter; a few cold fronts, perhaps, but nothing more. Still, it seems that our death rate also increases around this time. This is only an impression and I have no statistics to support it.

It also seems that we tend to lose more of our leading citizens around this time. Perhaps the stresses of the holiday season, together with the change of weather, have something to do with it.

The list of persons who have left us in recent weeks include prominent names like Father Patrick Johnson, Annie Russell, Leander Bethel, James Wildgoose, Sean Hanna and George Mackey.

The lives of each of them are worthy of celebration for the contribution they made to the building of our nation in their particular fields.

Most tragic – because of his youth – was the sudden passing of Mr. Hanna who came from a family dedicated to public service and who had a life time of achievement ahead of him.

The death of Mr. Mackey was not unexpected as he had been battling prostate cancer for two years. He was, at 67, not an old man by today’s standards and was capable of making further contributions to his beloved Bahamas.

Mr. Mackey once said that there was a measure of hypocrisy in those politicians who offered elaborate tributes to departed opponents. There can be no doubt, however, about the sincerity of the tributes which poured in to the media after Mr. Mackey’s passing.

He was indeed a most extraordinary man with a remarkable capacity for personal growth and development. Some men become forever stunted by the circumstances of birth, by opportunities denied and by wrongs real or imagined.

But George Mackey had neither the time nor the inclination for that. He always reached deep down inside himself and found the power to rise above it all.

He also found the spiritual strength not just to rise, but to do so on his own terms. In the political arena where the temptations to sacrifice honour and principle are multitudinous, Mr. Mackey held on to both.

His life gave the lie to the conventional wisdom that politics is a calling unsuited to decent human beings. He remained a fine man all his life, never indulging in the character assassination, victimization and personal abuse in which others take such delight.

I had the privilege of getting to know Mr. Mackey when we both worked at The Tribune nearly a half century ago under the mentoring hands of Sir Etienne Dupuch. He was always determined to do the right thing in the right way, and he had many things to do.

He became a politician of the highest class, dedicated to the ennobling of his people and the development of his community and nation. His warm fraternal greeting remained the same over the years, unaffected by the shifting winds of politics which consigned some of his friends to the status of outcasts.

Mr. Mackey gave validity to the maxim that if you want something done, give it to a busy man. He seemed to master the art of giving all of himself to very different pursuits. He was family man, politician, sportsman, churchman and historian, and gave his best to each.

George Mackey joins the pantheon of those who have demonstrated that not only good things but great souls can come out of this Bahamas.

* * *

COMPATIBLE INDUSTRIES

Last week I took issue with US Ambassador John Rood over comments he made in support of the proposed LNG plant and Bahamas-to-Florida pipeline.

Readers’ response was overwhelmingly supportive with one being especially generous. However, one reader took issue saying that we need to diversify our economy with more industries and that the LNG proposal was an opportunity to do just that.

We should most certainly do more to diversify our economy and to develop and attract compatible industries. There is much to be done by way of modernizing our efforts in agriculture and rationalizing the exploitation of our marine resources.

We need to produce more for our own consumption, for the tables of our tourist resorts and to take advantage of certain niche markets. We also need to promote more industry on the part of our own citizens as well as foreign investors.

But, having regard to what is happening in the rest of the world, we would be foolish in the extreme to entertain any industry that would constitute a serious threat to our environment.

Our environment is at the very core of this country and its economy and to a large degree defines what we are and how we live. These islands have always been the envy of many who live in less salubrious circumstances.

Our environment has enabled us for generations to welcome millions of paying visitors to our shores. It is why many people from all over the world are willing to pay a premium for the privilege of living here. It is our livelihood and it contributes immeasurably to our enjoyment of life.

The LNG project and others like it will put all of this at risk despite assurances to the contrary by those who stand to benefit from it.

We, of all people in the world, should be fiercely protective of our environment. If we allow it to be abused our coral reefs will be degraded and our fish and conch and lobster will disappear.

Tens of thousands of species of living things – birds, fishes, mammals and even plants – are at risk of extinction on the planet and many have already disappeared for good.

Stocks of commercial fish once thought inexhaustible are rapidly at dangerously low levels. The news agency Reuters reported last week that scientists are now calling for ocean areas to be set aside to protect diminishing stocks of deep-sea fish.

The reasons are destruction of habitats and ecosystems, over-exploitation and pollution. The reefs are particularly sensitive to pollution, sedimentation from dredging, and even change of temperature.

Caribbean coral reefs are directly under threat. Last November the Associated Press reported that unusually warm waters are harming the reefs raising fears of a die-off.

The reefs cover less than one-tenth of one per cent of the world’s ocean. But, says AP, “They support more than a million species of marine life, sustain tourism industries and provide food for islanders throughout the tropics.”

So any industry we allow in the Bahamas must be compatible with our environment or we will be doing a grave disservice to ourselves, to future generations of Bahamians and to the planet.

We can no longer plead ignorance about what is happening and we certainly cannot take the word of industries that are responsible for so much devastation of the natural heritage of humankind.