Time for more heroes

June 3, 2010

Dear Sir,

I was very pleased to hear that Bermudian citizens are being called upon to nominate someone to celebrate as a hero for the 2011 National Heroes Day. This has been a long time coming. Since the conception of Heroes' Day we have been celebrating the same hero. Don't get me wrong; I don't have anything against Dame Lois Browne Evans and I do not deny her considerable achievements and contributions to Bermuda. However, there are so many other people in Bermuda's past and present that we could be celebrating with this holiday.

As a young person, I was glad when Government first announced this holiday. I viewed it as an opportunity for me to learn more about my history, and the people that contributed to making Bermuda a better place. After all this is rare knowledge as Bermuda history is, unfortunately, not commonly taught in schools. National Heroes' Day was such a great idea and this holiday has so much potential to be just as great as the thought of it.

Government however has really let us down with this holiday by not allowing it to reach its full potential; I do not think that the Heroes' Day was a well thought through idea. This holiday can be a rich learning opportunity and I'd like to see it become just that. I have had a few ideas myself on how we can celebrate National Heroes' Day in a enriching light. One idea is to honour both a Bermudian from our history and a Bermudian that is still alive today that exemplifies taking positive steps toward creating a better Bermuda. This is also a good way to honour our young people that are trying to do positive things for this country. Another idea is to have some kind of display in a gallery maybe about the life of achievements of the hero that was chosen from our history.

These are small ideas but they are ideas that I feel will help to eventually bring National Heroes' Day to its full potential. I am sure other Bermudians have ideas as well on how to make this a great holiday, and I would like to encourage them to speak up and voice those ideas. I am not excited about celebrating the same hero for the third year in a row. However, I am hopeful that whoever is on the committee for this holiday is finally going to start putting some effort into making this a meaningful holiday and not just another reason to get out the office and on to the beach.

DAVIKA HILL

Warwick