Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. – John 15:13 (King James Version)
IT?OUGHT?NOT to come as any shock that man, no matter where he be or under what regime, will eventually fight his way out of subjection and oppression. Free agent as God Almighty has made him, man has an instinct for freedom.
Thus he will buck or stymie subjugation and tyranny in good time, or die trying for the betterment of those after him.
And man, of curious nature, is ever keen to discover what better life he can have: he and his family. The knowledge and application may come years later; but it will come.
So there ought not to be any surprise at the happenings of late in the Middle East and in Africa. More importantly, there needs to be reflection: a mulling over the recent people events by all member countries of this world.
Minister of Education Ronald Jones on Monday, before a room full of professors, researchers and scholars at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, suggested that research could be done into the whys and wherefores of people’s renewed fight for liberation, democracy and greater education at this point in the 21st century.
Mr Jones seemed to further suggest that the answers from such research could be of great use to Barbados, surely in guiding us in such a manner that the confrontational issues as now arise in the Middle East and Africa would not stare us in our very own faces.
For all the good and social benefits Barbados is known for or boasts, it would be folly to swear that “it cannot happen here”, as Mr Jones has wisely stated. Any diminution of social services, or hindrance to their access by those who hold such benefits as a right, for example, could be a vehicle to unrest. It need not have to be about any erosion of our freedoms and rights, which we take so offhandedly for granted.
The bane of Barbadian life is poor public service. NISE has been having an uphill struggle getting service providers on the same spot, from what we have seen. A reason for unrest? Who knows?
Did Moammar Gaddafi remotely think of such defiance as he now faces at the turn of the new year? His once “loyal” subjects are prepared to die for that defiance, much as Gaddafi himself is ready to die for his “right” to rule.But only one side will be laying down a life for a friend. Therein is the rub, and the greater love.