When we build, let us think we build forever.
Let it be such a work as our descendants will thank us for;
And let us think, as we lay stone upon stone,
that a time is to come when these stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them,
And that men will say, as they look upon the labour
and substance of them: “See! This our fathers did for us.”
With John Ruskin’s words, Owen Arthur created the context for his address to the illustrious Barbados Labour Party.
The following are extracts from his inspirational remarks:
“Services at this church have come to assume a position of great significance in the work of the BLP. In September 1994, we assembled here to seek spiritual guidance as we assumed responsibility for the Government of this country in trying times.
Future events always cast a shadow.
So it should come as no surprise that we should assemble at this sanctuary, as we prepare ourselves, in hope and with expectation, of another call to service.
As we celebrate another birthday in the life of our Party, we are necessarily sobered by the reflection on how testing recent times have been for us.
But, yet, dealing with challenges has always been the usual and customary business of our political institution.
There is therefore nothing that we cannot achieve if we bind ourselves together as one, and go forward motivated only and entirely by the determination to serve this nation and its people above ourselves.
This year, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the grant to every Barbadian of the right to vote. It stands as the greatest accomplishment by any BLP administration. It also is the greatest act of political liberation in the history of Barbados. It is a legacy of which we are proud.
It is also a legacy that imposes upon us a duty to make our own special contribution to help to build the kind of society that would please the Fathers of our Barbadian democracy.
Let us therefore leave this service resolved, each according to his or her talents, to help to build our nation and our party. Let us therefore gird ourselves for the political battles ahead.
As we do so, we must conduct ourselves in a manner to enrich the legacy of this party, crafted over 73 years, by political pioneers of the greatest worth, a legacy which our presence here this evening is intended to strengthen and advance.
We must also so conduct ourselves to be worthy of God’s grace, and the blessings and prayers which were offered on our behalf at this service.”
“Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know, that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
The sweet spirit of that service demonstrates that the superior leadership of Owen Arthur is bearing fruit.
His statesman like approach to the social and economic challenges confronting Barbados has brought greater unity to the ranks of his party and is bringing hope to Barbadians who like those by the rivers of Babylon continue to weep as they remember better days. A renewed, visionary and energetic Owen Arthur and his team stand ready to rescue Barbados once again.