Building Resilience
www.govt.lc
03
“As a Nation we Must be Prepared to Work” Message by Minister with Responsibility for Culture & Creative Industries
Minister with Responsibility for Culture & Creative Industries Hon. Fortuna Belrose.
F
or us as a country over the last few years our Independence themes focused on us as proud sons and daughters of this land. The themes as you may recall were “A journey continues” and “I am Saint Lucia.” They were designed to keep us in perspective and cause us to reflect as we move about our business. Reflect on who we are, where we are and the contributions that we make and can continue to make in this society and the means through which we make that contribution and most importantly the values we espouse and cherish as we make that contribution to nation building. As Minister with responsibility for Culture, let me report at this juncture that the majority of our citizens are proud of their being and they want to succeed. They relish a better society and most importantly they value the encouragement of leadership on that journey. Those of us who are leaders we feel it every day. As we traverse our country, the people are saying to us they want it to be better. And so, we can be proud that we have a government that listens to the pulse of the people and is mindful of the realities and is responding and leading the way appropriately. So today we are here on the eve of our Nation’s 40th independence anniversary. You know at 40 one is expected to be very mature and know exactly what they are about and where they are headed and our Helen, Fair Helen of the west is very clear of that direction. We know that Biblically 40 years is the year of deliverance and one of the greatest stories of deliverance is that the children of Israel. They were in the wilderness for 40 years and were led to the promised land. So we know that there are many who have been caught in the wilderness; the wilderness of doubt and dependency, the wilderness of disbelief and they do not have the confidence as they are trapped and confused. But I want to assure them that liberation day is here. Our country is moving into deliverance mode and we all must be in as the theme for this year’s Independence celebration says. “All in - Our Journey, Our Future”. But we must be in with the right attitude, the right mind-set, we must understand the value of respect of our fellow men, we must believe in love, and the golden rule of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. We must believe in give and take, we must understand that we do not bite the hand that feed us and expect everything to be alright. As a nation we must understand that we must be prepared to work and we must acknowledge, that there is no free ticket to lunch anymore and we must work at achieving success and be committed and discipline to reap the rewards that we aspire to. The good book says that “by the sweat of thigh brow though shall eat bread,” not reserving your sweat and sitting and waiting. If you want to eat you must work and in the year of deliverance we ask our citizens to continue to improve on themselves and set their goals to take advantage of the many opportunities that will become available. It is our country and we all belong and we must be ready to partake and contribute. I trust that the good Lord will continue to guide us, as we each find our purpose for being born in this land so that we can all be in, during the 40th Independence celebrations and even beyond.