Our politicians right now are like packs of snarling dogs

With resignations, re-assignments, secret night visits to Government House, Premier changes, and Parliamentary trick shots, the low farce and high comedy that I wrote about on 30th April has gone lower and higher. Despite that, three marvellous things have happened to me in the past few days.

First, a pair of my spectacles came partly apart. They needed fixing. I took them to the people at the Bermuda Optical Co Ltd office on Church Street. They fixed my specs.

Taking my great-nephew Nicholas fishing last week Saturday, the line on the reel got all tangled up immediately after he’d landed his first fish. Being better with rifles, pistols, numbers, and data than with the intricacies of a fishing rod reel, I took the rod and reel in to Fly Bridge Tackle on Church Street.  I went back two days later, picked up the rod and reel and got a lesson on ‘the right way to do it’.

On Friday 23rd, another back-up set of spectacles came apart. I began wondering if the same gremlins and goblins haunting the OBA, biting at the bow-tie Minister, and gnawing at the smooth-headed ex-AG were now getting at me.

This time I was close to the Argus Optical Co on Parliament Street, so I went upstairs and asked for them to repair my specs. Within ten minutes, they were fixed, and handed back to me.

The common factor was that I was not charged anything. Each time I reached for my wallet, but each time the technician or salesperson said: “That’s OK. No charge for that.”

It’s been a long time since I’ve had any free stuff of real value. In between I’ve had lots of free advice but not anything else that was ‘free’.

So it was particularly heart-warming that professional people with expensively acquired skill-sets gave me a service that was genuinely free. I feel good about that and I publicly thank them.

After dipping into this little well of plain human goodness from people who were able to properly and correctly charge for their professional services, I found myself stepping a bit lighter. And I reckon that Nicholas will land bigger fish.

An economic tsunami looms

And now that I can still see our politicians, I think I see exactly what they are really doing.

Right now, they are like two packs of dogs at water’s edge on a pink Bermuda beach, circling and snarling and growling at one another. Meanwhile within sight on the horizon, there is a high wave — an economic tsunami — that is steadily making its way towards the beach and the land behind.

Sensibly, everyone should be taking to the hills of common sense and practical, positive action, with one of the two packs leading the way. Instead, the packs circle, snarl, and growl at one another; and, unfortunately, the villagers who ought to be heading for the safe hills of common sense and practical, positive action are distracted into watching the dogfight at water’s edge.

That’s the low farce and face of it all.

Led by the lead dogs, fed by titivating gossip, resignations, secret night visits, and a slow unravelling of stinking, sordid messes; this whole nation is now acting irrationally. Even stupidly.

Meanwhile, the tide of money runs out and the economic tsunami continues its run in. And still the two packs of dogs circle and snarl and growl.

Common and good sense needs to prevail. The lead dog of the lead pack needs to step up and take his full position as this country’s new leader and wrench order out of the current chaos.

The window of opportunity for doing this is small, short, and narrow. Once the window closes, it closes forever.

If necessary, the lead dog must make more changes in his pack. Then, while the window stays open, he must turn his face to the villagers, speak frankly and openly to the villagers, and trust the majority of the villagers to be intelligent enough to go to the hills of common sense and practical, positive action.

If that does not happen, the dog fighting will continue unabated, the window will close, and the economic tsunami will catch everybody at the water’s edge. And all — dogs and villagers — will perish together.

The lead dog must act. Now. Quickly. Strongly.