And everyone in Bermuda will be aware this week that whatever problems we face here, they cannot compare to the disaster that has struck the countries of South and Southeast Asia after the Boxing Day tsunami.

That catastrophe should be a vital reminder to all of us that most other countries would give much to have just part of the quality of life and standard of living that we too often take for granted.

Indeed, there seems to be a close relationship between wealth and complaining in Bermuda ? for a society that has so much, we are never satisfied, and too often we are unwilling to take personal responsibility for the mistakes we make and the problems that we have.

We are always looking for someone else to blame.

The same applies to finding solutions. We are terrific at diagnosing the illness and stunningly bad at finding a cure or implementing it if we do know what it is.

That's not to say that a measure of self-criticism is bad. Being aware of your faults, demanding higher standards of yourself and striving to do better is something all of us should do.

But when criticism turns outward, it can paralyse a community. And Bermuda, for all of its success, is closer to seizing up than many people would think.

Too much energy is put into blaming expatriates or blaming Bermudians for the Island's problems. Too much time is spent gnawing over the racial bones of the past on the parts of both whites and blacks.

Too often, we expect Government to fix this problem, or for international companies to throw money at Bermudian issues as part of the hidden tax of being here.

Too often, we ? all of us ? refuse to look in the mirror and see that we are our own worst enemy.

And too often we are unwilling to get off our couches or to leave our private pursuits to fix our problems ourselves and to give something back to the community.

Of course, there are thousands of Bermudians who give their time and money to public service and they deserve enormous praise. But the people who do this are not as numerous as most people think and virtually all charities, service clubs and the like are desperate for volunteers, especially young volunteers.

Why is this a problem? It's a problem because surely the community is getting tired of hearing the mantra "if anyone can solve the (fill in the blank) problem, Bermuda can".

And yet, from race to drugs to housing to education to economic opportunity to crime to prison rehabilitation, it never gets solved, or if progress is made, it is glacially slow.

In 2005, the whole community needs to resolve to come together, openly, to take responsibility for our actions, to solve the problems we face and to move forward to make a better life for our children and grandchildren, born and unborn.

There's too much at stake to put it off any longer.