We don’t think. We don’t read; but we react and react with heated emotion. More often than not our substantially irrational reactions are aired over the various radio frequencies for the nation, and in some instances, for the world to hear our tirades. Talk Show host Jeffrey Lloyd has, on numerous occasions, admonished his listeners to read and think carefully about what they read or have acquired through hearsay. He especially urges Bahamians to purchase a copy of the Constitution so that they can speak and react intelligently on matter pertaining to our country...

For some reason, human beings believe that if they know what is going to happen before it happens; their lives will be the better for it.  Right now, there is research being conducted by reputable scholars in the United States to determine whether a rather innocuous black box found deep in the basement of a dusty university library in Edinburgh holds the secrets of the future...

The concerts are over, the dancing and shouting has died down somewhat and life is beginning to return to some normalcy.   A new government has been formed and the business of running the country is now the order of the day for the ruling Free National Movement.

            Many people have been quoted as saying the outcome of the elections was the will of God.   Be that as it may, since the majority of the votes cast were for the FNM, it is that political party that will govern The Commonwealth of The Bahamas for the next five years.

Someone commented the other day that politicians are the rock stars of The Bahamas and I tend to agree with this statement after watching the grand entrances Messrs Christie and Ingraham received at political rallies held at various locations throughout the country.   The entourages and music that accompanied them to their respective podiums during the weeks leading up to the general elections was nothing short of spectacular.

Last week this column discussed the importance of having support in one’s life.   We spoke about the need to have people around who would serve to uplift and motivate you rather than pull you into a pit of negativities. But, have you ever wondered how difficult it is to achieve this when the airwaves continuously bombard us with so much negativity?

We have had twenty-four murders in 13 weeks, which is almost two murders a week in a country that has less than 500,000 residents. While the peace marches and rallies show that the public is not satisfied with these statistics, I wonder if they really change much...

I read a quote the other day that came as part of one of those forwarded messages of which I am not very fond.    But, I thought it was simple yet quite powerful and wanted to pass it on to you.   It reads as follows: “Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.”

Have you ever been in a situation where someone tells you something and then you later find out that what he or she told you was not true?   And in addition to it being untrue, it involved lying on another person who is clueless that his/her name has been used and misused to fulfill some devious agenda.

            I have come to realize that such a thing takes place quite often in some work environments, and it appears that such deceitfulness takes place in an attempt to maintain or garner a certain level of control over one’s subordinates.   In fact, I believe this need to control may in fact be an attempt to cover some deep-seated fear that hovers like a dark cloud over the mouth of a volcano waiting to erupt.

The political season is in full swing now even though rallies have been put on hold until the Lenten season is over.   This is what I find almost comical.   The fact that politicians who have made it their business to take part in unchristian slanderous attacks and vilification against each other, would remember to keep holy an entire forty days.

Have you ever walked into a business establishment and thought that you had just entered happy hour at a local bar? Or perhaps you walked in and thought you were at a Sunday afternoon wedding shower filled with women chatting about anything and everything. This is how I have felt when I have visited various business establishments. In such places, I have found the employees focusing on everything other than the customer.

A few years ago I had the privilege of sitting in the company of several women whose ages at the time ranged from late twenties to late seventies.   While there were decades that separated us, we were connected by the sheer fact that we were all women.

How many times can you recall playing in the school yard as a child and someone invariably shouts out, “I’m going to tell the teacher you said the F-word.”   Yes, that oh so dubious F-word with all the nefarious connotations that go along with it will surely get you in trouble on the playground. But what about when you are no longer a child, should you still be chastised for using the F-word, often described as vile and obscene?

There are some people who have been married for more than 25 or even 40 years, but still have not learned the art of communicating effectively.    I often wonder how it is that after living together for decades as husband and wife, two people can file for divorce citing poor communication as one of the reason for the break up.

We are in the second week of the year 2007 and some things are continuing just where they left off; most things being negative of course.   The country had its first murder recorded in the early hours of January 1^st and Junkanoo groups are not satisfied with their placements in the New Year’s Day Parade.

            While the first is more serious and the later many consider trivial, they are both the extremes by which we live our lives and are examples or perhaps portrayals of who we are and what is important enough to make the headlines each day.

This is the time of the year when we pause to give thanks to that Higher Being who ensures that we arise each morning to a new beginning.   We often give thanks for our life and the lives of those who are special to us or those who have made some positive contribution to our existence. I, too, find myself giving thanks each day I am able to get up and breathe in the air that has been provided for me.