October 10, 2012Dear SirAm I my brother’s keeper?A question asked in the Bible. Yet very pertinent to the Bermuda of 2012. One thing that challenging times does is mould us or fold us. This, one of the most challenging global recessions, is merely pushing us as individuals or a community into one or the other direction. Almost everyone I know in Bermuda or elsewhere is feeling the pinch or in some cases a punch. Some bruised some battered. Some torn some tattered. Again I ask are we our brother’s/sister’s keepers? I speak to you my fellow Bermudian landlords. Do we lower our rents to allow out tenants some breathing space?I speak to you my fellow parents. Do we start to teach our children the frugality that we ourselves were raised? Do we teach them how to do more with less? I speak to you my fellow Bermudian employees. Do we work with our employers and clients and show them better workmanship and service? Do we show them pathways for more innovation that increases their bottom line and secures our jobs and increases our pay packets?I speak to you my fellow business owners. Do we now start lowering our profit margin to give our customers more value for money? Do we sit with our employees and show them not only their weaknesses but their strengths and value? I speak to you my fellow Bermudians. Do we adopt a guest worker as our family? Whether they be an accountant or a pot washer, they are humans and far from home. Yes they will have persons from their country here. But that does not mean they don’t want or need to feel that Bermudian love only we can give. I speak to you my fellow Progressive Labour Party family do we open our minds and hearts to the evolution our country and party must undertake? I have no doubt about the election outcome. It is the post-election reality we must all prepare ourselves for. Will we realise it will truly be all hands on deck to see our country through?I speak to you my One Bermuda Alliance friends. Are you looking for real change? Are you prepared to turn your swords into ploughshares? Once this election is over, this country is going to need some healing. If you revert back to your enclaves, all that will happen is this social oneness that you claim you are attempting to build will dissipate once again. Racial, economical, social integration cannot be a one-way street. I speak to you the media moguls of Bermuda. Freedom of the press and speech is not free. You have a social price to pay for dictating a narrative. Is the country challenged? Yes. Do you pretty it up? No. But you have a responsibility of balance and fairness to all sides. Are we our sibling’s keepers? Once we look outside of our own self-interests and look for the greater good in and for all our siblings, then we can truly say we are their keepers. Until then we are keeping them back and keeping ourselves back.Stand Strong FamilyMy next letter.The new Golden Rule.CHRISTOPHER FAMOUS