Pride is the issue. No one can deny that pride is important. The dictionary defines pride as ?self-respect ... the pleasure taken from one?s achievements...? Some proponents of Independence believe that being independent will give Bermudians ?pride?. They analogise Independence to ?a child?s coming of age?, standing on his own (presumably in a self-sufficient way). They believe a declaration that we stand alone (the act of going Independent) will automatically confer ?pride? upon Bermudians. Opponents question whether Independence will actually make Bermudians feel ?pride? for more than a brief moment, if at all.

Pride is not always a good thing. It is the first of Christianity?s seven deadly sins and has been said to open the door to all the others. The Bible cautions: ?Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.? (Proverbs 16:18) So, while we want to feel good about ourselves, pride, for its own sake, is not necessarily an admirable quality ? especially for those who boast about it, and even worse, for those make false claims to it, calling to mind Alexander Pope, who said pride is ?the never-failing vice of fools.? (Essay on Criticism II, 1,1.)

If pride is truly ?... the pleasure take from one?s achievements?, it cannot be a gift that we can make to ourselves, nor can anyone else confer it upon us. Pride, like a good reputation, must be earned ?from one?s achievements?. For example, it is earning the freedom and luxuries that flow from our economic success, or from becoming among the most educated, or from doing the best deeds, or from achieving all manner of positive goals.

Pride, then, is not a rooster?s proclamation that is controls the barnyard ? especially when the barnyard is surrounded by hungry farmers and stealthy foxes.

Conversely, when pride is truly earned by constructive accomplishments (as opposed to proclamations of ?Independence?, there is no need to proclaim it. As such, won?t pride simply be ours, a part of us, when we have earned it?

The world views microscopically small countries, like Bermuda, as too small to defend and support themselves. When such countries declare Independence, in these terrorist times when many tiny countries are being frozen out by the big powers, will the world view these diminutive nations as little more than noisy roosters in the barnyard, dependent for virtually everything upon the largesse of the great powers ? i.e. the farmers and foxes, who really control the barnyard?

Times change. Decades ago, when such small countries went independent, no one much noticed or cared; today, many of those countries, like Bermuda, have already been formally declared to be ?high crime areas?. These little countries are already targets of sorts, and once they go Independent, they are stripped of all of their defences. Do Bermudians want to ?crap shoot? with their futures (to gain some self-proclaimed ?pride?), or do Bermudians need clear and largely risk-free answers to a host of difficult questions? Consider the following pride-related questions:

How do the people in the enormous states of New York, California, Illinois, and Florida have pride without Independent? They could be self-sufficient; why don?t they need to claim Independence to gain self-respect? Could it be because they already have sufficient pride in their accomplishments and in themselves that they are not threatened by admitting they want and need the protections of being part of a larger whole?

Is Bermuda successful enough to be as capable of standing alone (economically, militarily, culturally, etc.) as does New York State? Conversely, if Bermuda does not really enjoy the economic, military, cultural and other indicia of independence, will Bermuda?s declaration of Independence make Bermuda more than it is? Does a child, who has earned his independence (by becoming self-sufficient), need to proclaim it to prove it? Does a child, who has not earned independence become independent by simply proclaiming it? If not, what, then, can be the value of Independence to Bermudians? pride? Even worse, could a proclamation of self-respect (e.g., going Independent) have the perverse effect of doing the opposite and revealing that Bermuda is so desperate for self-respect that it must crow to the world that it has it? Could Bermuda be so clearly dependent on others that its declaration of Independence would simply engender laughter among world powers?

Does a rich man need to proclaim his wealth to prove it? Does a poor man?s claim of riches give him wealth?

Could Bermuda?s ?independence? appear akin to the dependent child?s demands to be treated like an adult before it has become self-sufficient, educated and capable of defending itself from anyone ? making itself appear childish?

Would our spouses gain pride by declaring their independence from us ? or we from them? Many think not. What opprobrium, then, need attach to dependence? Aren?t some forms of dependence clearly desirable and healthy for us and, don?t some forms of dependence, in fact, give us pride? Could this explain why many large populations are content to depend upon an even larger whole? Aren?t we all ? dependent? in many ways upon each other, and isn?t this why we live together in clusters? If being realistic requires some dependence, why should it negate our accomplishments and the resultant pride?

Perhaps New Yorkers are sufficiently comfortable with their achievements that they don?t need to demand independence from the US to prove their pride, but why has, even affluent Monaco, by Treaty, agreed to become part of France in the not so distant future? Could it have been for the protection that France gives it now? Does Haiti?s or Jamaica?s seizure of Independence make them self-sufficient and give them pride? Are Barbadians happy with the heavy burden of income taxes that Independence has brought upon them to sustain Barbados?

According The World Factbook, ?The Bahamas ... is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, particularly shipments to the US, and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US.? (See www.odci.gov/cia/publications) So, the CIA has now, in effect, published on the Internet that the US has the 300,000 population-Bahamas squarely within its sights.

Is that the model to which Bermuda now aspires? Since the US has already dubbed Bermuda as ?a high crime area?, just how close has Bermuda already now come to being viewed in Bahamas? light or that of even more rogue Caribbean independents? Can Bermuda hope to earn the millions of dollars from marine traffic that support the Bahamian dollar and keeps the Bahamas solvent? Or, might Bermuda?s sheer isolation be its very downfall, casting it into an economic and diplomatic freeze of arctic proportions?

Could going Independent have the reverse effect: making Bermudians seen less proud, or even foolish, rather than self-respecting? Wouldn?t Independence give our leaders much more power, with little or no real court of last resort (with judges that our leaders did not appoint)?

Aren?t many Bermudians already justifiably proud of Bermuda?s beauty, pollution-free environment, the importance of its insurance and money management industries, and of the achievements of its long list of luminaries such as the telephone company?s Dr. James King, Bank of Bermuda?s new president Phil Butterfield, Sir John Swan, ACE?s Brian Duperreault, and countless others?

Could Bermuda bring more pride to its people right now by improving economic conditions, or the Front Street docks and shops, or the educational system, etc., and inspiring the emergence of more Bermuda luminaries, rather than engaging in divisive debate and expending inordinate resources on what many view as a tread worn red herring issue like Independence?

Opponents of Independence have a long list of arguments against Independence, none of which are discussed here. Herein, the writer simply propounds questions relating to the assertion that Independence will give Bermudians ?pride?. However, If Bermuda is not really self-sufficient, as many maintain, is the ?pride? gained (if any) from going Independence worth risking the potential negatives of such an irreversible step?

In this now terrorist-driven world, where nations cleave together against common enemies, making larger and larger clusters, rather than smaller and smaller ones, does Bermuda really want to rush to stand defiantly alone ? in callous disregard of half of its people who oppose Independence with every fibre of their beings? Or is it more rational to avoid a leap into the perilous international seas that now engulf our little paradise?

Just how seaworthy is Bermuda?s skiff for such treacherous tempests? Or, are Bermudians simply raising ?a tempest in a teapot?, straining to fight a war that only they crave and, hence, to risk thrusting themselves into isolation from which there may be no extrication? Is this ?game? worth the proverbial candle?