grow and change, how they mature and how they contribute to change. Very few people hold to the same thinking in maturity as they did in their youth. The same can be said to be true of the development of countries.

Growth takes tolerance and an acceptance of the fact that not everyone thinks alike or holds to the same views on anything meaningful in this life from politics, to religion to the arts to lifestyles. That is why we subscribe to democracy rather than to totalitarian regimes where thought is governed by state doctrine and lifestyle is dictated by conformity in uniforms.

In a democracy people agree to disagree and then get on with their lives with respect for the other person's views. Yet we seem to detect a tendency in Bermuda today not to agree to disagree with respect but to engage in sometimes savage put-downs of anyone who dares to speak-out or who dares to hold an opinion even marginally outside some hard doctrinal lines.

In this small place a savage put-down can be a very damaging thing. We notice that a young man was asked by another newspaper the question, "Is Bermuda a true democracy?'' We think his answer was very telling. He was quoted as responding, "No. I don't think so. Not in the true sense. Sometimes no matter what you do or say you always live in fear of condemnation.'' Notice that the young man did not say "contradiction'' or "disagreement'' but he used the word "condemnation''. In other words, a lack of respect for what you say or do causing you to be condemned for your views or your actions.

Very little could be more uncomfortable for people in a supposedly open society or more divisive of the society itself. It seems that we are beginning to live in a society which is choosing division.

Politicians create open divisions on a regular basis when they condemn one another and anyone else who disagrees with them. Indeed, some politicians seem determined to have their own way at the expense of dividing Bermuda. Some churches do it regularly by condemning, even damning, certain lifestyles while condoning their own transgressions. The talk shows thrive on strong opinions which condemn all and sundry.

It is difficult to believe that in this tiny Country we find it so hard to "get along''. Indeed Bermudians have much more in common than they have in differences. To begin with, they share in the comforts of one of the most beautiful places on earth, blessed by God and by the efforts of man, and share a mutual love for that Country.

It is time now to recognise that the future, the best future, lies in togetherness and not in division. In division there can only be enmity leading to decline.