---

From one Bermudian to another, from me to you, I challenge you to this experiment. First, in a very private room, stand before a mirror. Strip off all your clothes, and stand before that mirror just as God fashioned you. Now start putting on clothes. However, you may only clothe yourself within this limit or condition.

As a Bermudian, you may only put on clothing that embodies or reflects your Bermudian heritage and history — and that specifically identifies you as a Bermudian, and that differentiates you from all the rest of the world. You may not use clothes or accessories from other people’s histories or heritages unless these histories and heritages are directly connected to you and to your Bermudian history and heritage.

So, from your feet up, let’s start:

Shoes? Sandals? Cowboy boots? Valenki? Nothing?

Trousers? Shorts? Kilt? Dhoti? Nothing?

Shirt? Buba? Dashiki? Topless?

Agbada robe? Kente robe? Han-bok robe? No national robe?

Blazer? Red jacket? Tweed coat? No jacket?

Baseball cap? Turban? Beret? No hat?

Now, I’m curious. What have you ended up putting on that specially identifies you as a Bermudian? What?

Are you wearing un-tied Nikes, ‘hip-hop’ pants slung low with an over-large T-shirt, a baseball cap turned backwards?

Are you barefoot, wearing a sarong, and topless? Are you wearing agbada robes? Have you a turban on your head?

I am so curious! What are you wearing that meets the condition that it should embody or reflect your Bermudian heritage and history; and that specifically identifies you as a Bermudian, and differentiates you from all the rest of the world? What have you put on?

Or, are you still naked? And, will you remain so? Forever?

Put a Scotsman or a Kuwaiti or a Nigerian to the same test. In each case, a man from these countries will quickly put on clothes that cloak him in his national identity.

No one really expects a Scotsman to turn up for an international business conference in a 37th floor executive boardroom in his kilt. A cardinal of the Catholic Church wouldn’t attend that meeting in his full clerical robes. However, a Nigerian might well show up in full ‘ethnic’ dress.

Instead, the Scot would probably wear ‘normal business’ attire and the Cardinal a black suit and a clerical collar. The Nigerian might also choose to come in a nicely-cut Savile Row suit.

There is a generally agreed and appropriate time and place for ‘national’ dress. With our ‘Bermuda Shorts’, that time and place is all those occasions when we, like the Scots and the Nigerians and the Arabs, specifically wish to celebrate or show our unique national identity. That’ll be the same sort of time and place when the Cardinal puts on his cassock, the Scot his kilt, the Nigerian his agbada.

As I recall, when the Arabs from OPEC turn up for their OPEC meetings to discuss oil production and oil pricing, there is a tendency for them to have a great showing of ‘national’ dress of full robes and distinguishing khaffiyehs. The same for the Nigerians when they turn up at OPEC.

When these same persons go to western capitals or business centres on other minor matters, they more often wear western garb. Not always. Just more often. Perhaps, at OPEC, their clothes display not only their nationality, but also reflect and display their real power.

When a Bermudian executive or politician goes overseas and works in a normal office and boardroom settings, perhaps he, not as powerful as the OPEC Arabs and Africans, is better off in normal garb.

But if that Bermudian executive or politician hosts a dinner or reception or show, why does he not do so in ‘national wear’, just as others who are proud of their identity tend to do — and the way that ‘Airman’ from St. David’s actually does?

Back to the core issue. What does an average Bermudian put on that shows and celebrates his national identity, his history, his heritage?

What? Do write and tell me and satisfy my, and perhaps your, curiosity.

[PS When a foreign businessman comes to Bermuda to do ‘business’, why can’t his Bermuda business counterpart ‘issue’ him with a pair of Bermuda shorts and long socks so that he fits the ‘Bermuda scene’. It’s no different than Coca-Cola offering Coke, Bacardi offering Bacardi, and GM picking people up in GM made cars. It’s just to reinforce the ‘brand’ — the identity. The very thing we spend millions trying to create.][[In-content Ad]]

---