The prime example is set by our Westminster System of Government which pits one political party against another, always tearing each other down and never building bridges. Bermuda's political parties are much more at odds than parties in most countries which operate the Westminster System. Witness to that is the fact that the Progressive Labour Party will not or cannot co-operate even on issues which concern the entire Country, like drugs.

There is an element in many people which says that if you can find an excuse you need not accept responsibility for your own actions. It is destructive but convenient to take the easy way. Too often that leads to a self-fulfilling failure. An attitude of, "I have a problem therefore I need not bother to try,'' becomes prevalent. Or, "My failure can be excused because I had to struggle.'' Or, "It's not my fault I did not get that job, `they' were against me.'' Some of this occurs because we are encouraged to be a society of victims. Our world is saturated with talk about "problems'', especially on television. In truth everyone is a victim of something or other, sometimes it's serious and sometimes it's laughable. But whether it is serious or laughable it will not be overcome by lying down and accepting it like a comfort blanket.

Many of the major ills of this society are thus excused like violence and drug abuse and social degeneracy.

This is a tough and complex time in which to live. But the truth is that we live in a Country which makes our lives much, much easier than everyone except a tiny percentage of the world's people.

Yet there are people who thrive on accentuating the negative. Some of them have been negative for so long that their views have become an accepted part of our daily lives. As part of our lives they can be more dangerous than cocaine. More often than not these people dwell on the sins of the past. Often they dwell on their own failures apportioning blame to everyone but themselves and encouraging other people to wallow in their failures. The truth is that some of the demagogues had every chance in the world and were given every help but they failed because of flaws of their own. It happens. Life is short and people should not be encouraged to enjoy failure but rather to strive for success.

Too often those encouraging failure are recounting bad or selective history and are unwilling to put in some hard work learning history. They fail to understand that it is infinitely more important to prepare for the future instead of living with the sins of the past.

If we continue to live in the past the future will be closed to us and we will be left with the demagogues who have misled us. The future lies in unity and not in division.