Bermuda is going through a crucial period in the quest to rekindle the old-fashioned spirit that helped us to rise above the many obstacles of our past. Sheer determination and commitment were the foundation of life lessons that nothing can defeat justice, dignity and truth when we focus on the positive and let the negative pass on by.

A significant challenge for elected officials and community leaders in our Bermuda today is not just trying to find ways to improve our economy, which of course is important, but to ensure that our vision is not clustered with negatives that prevent us from seeking what is best for the collective rather than a select group.

Political divisiveness continues to create roadblocks that usually result in hardline positions on various issues, with constant bickering over past social and institutional injustices in our history that cannot be rewritten. But history provides lessons for all of us to stay focused on positives that have taken place over the years to make Bermuda special.

The One Bermuda Alliance Government, if it wants to win the confidence of a voting public who are not as enamoured of the ruling party as they were at election time in December 2012, must work diligently in reaching out to those who have grown sceptical. Many are not yet ready to write the OBA off, but it has to improve communication on sensitive issues, where too often people react even before understanding fully what is being proposed.

The Progressive Labour Party is prepared to jump on anything negative about the Government, as an opposition is wont to do, in the knowledge that it could plant further seeds of doubt over the ruling party’s ability to connect with the real concerns of the people. This happens in just about every democratic jurisdiction globally, and in many cases the Opposition is not without a few skeletons of its own.

In other words, the age-old battle to score points no matter what is reality in the political arena.

One has only to take a quick glance at the stormy, fiery and at times blistering tone of the campaigns by some candidates vying for the White House in the next American presidential election. In the quest to maintain or gain political power, some politicians often resort to any tactic they feel will damage the image of opponents, forgetting that they, too, could become targets of similar treatment. It can get quite nasty.

Bermuda could be on the brink of clawing its way out of an economic mess through better co-operation between the Government, the Opposition and the business community, or things could go farther south through the inability to brush aside outdated attitudes of divisiveness on racial and political lines. A former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros Ghali, may have done good work during his term in office, but much of it was blemished by strong criticism for telling survivors of the brutal slaughter in Rwanda that he “felt their pain”.

Meanwhile, most felt the UN had failed to protect the oppressed Tutsis from a tribal killing spree. One Rwandan official noted that the Secretary-General during his brief visit was flanked by armed guards as he tiptoed through the remains of victims before reboarding his aircraft and leaving the area.

The point here is that governments must be careful when they say they feel the pain of those on the lower rungs of society. People who are hurting want more than words to give them hope that things will get better. The opportunity to keep our ship afloat is still very much with us, depending on attitudes.

There are positive activities that involve many of our young people, providing a wide range of opportunities never seen before. Those in responsible leadership positions must refrain from using language that can promote anger and bitterness. This serves only to keep divisiveness very much alive, and that may turn out to be our biggest obstacle in trying to move Bermuda forward in a world where diversity in the human experience continues to unfold.

With spring very much in the air, let us hope a fresh breeze of reason and co-operation will enable progress to continue in the land we call home.