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Reginald Severin
“Fear arises through identification with form, whether it be a material possession, a physical body, a social role, a self-image, a thought, or an emotion. It arises through unawareness of the formless inner dimension of consciousness or spirit, which is the essence of who you are. You are trapped in object consciousness, unaware of the dimension of inner space which alone is true freedom.” Eckhart Tolle
On one hand there is fear of the unknown; this very fear forestalls the search required to gain knowledge and dispel the state of ignorance which engenders fear itself. I believe that most of us are not comfortable with a disruption of our status quo or social cast, anything that seemingly challenges these dimensions of our being create undue stress and disturbs inner peace. We are often fearful of the self image that may be loss and the challenges of regaining face against the odds. Therefore we most likely settle in the ‘road less travelled’ achieving very little and often unwilling to look at the positive consequences of present actions in changing our lacklustre past.
A rather complex explanation of the situation with certain representatives and political parties’ candidates as the electorate considers how best to serve their interests. Why does anyone elect a parliamentary representative in Dominica? Who is responsible for deciding who represents the constituency? In an age where the halls of power is so thin and leaders are tempted to select individuals most aligned to their personal tastes rather than listen to the real needs of the people, there is real risk whenever the people actually come forward and decide. The important question is who are the ‘people’?
As a politician it is tempting to define the people within the narrow corridors of one’s own family or extend it on edges of the inner bans of friendship. Clevence, the old man who just wanted to see your face or Masterkey, the young man who is seeking a simple advise seem irrelevant, uncounted, neglected. Perhaps being in the halls of the Parliament partaking in its ‘talkload’ may be far too important to be on the same priority list as the three minutes spent visiting the ailing villager or checking to see if the road access issue was resolved. Nothing is more repugnant in modern day politics than when representatives acting as politicians continue to use the combined goodwill and unfortunate ignorance of a rural electorate to just slide by.
I foresee an even more disturbing trend; some ride on the national appeal of the leader holding onto their position without any sense of really caring hoping that their position is preserved by the national mood. In the end they fail to contribute anything significant to the national mood and alienate their constituents and potential electors with a blissful candour. This results in a very subtle suffering that is not unlike the sort of suffering recommended in a Christian persuasion; take up your cross and follow me!
What do we see? There are a number of longsuffering constituents throughout Dominica who are labelled Labour, Freedom, DPP, Pappy, UWP…..who meet the daily challenges of just survival with very little; interestingly they complaint very little in the process. Their voices are not heard, drowned by the utterances of those whose concern for 2010 is more relevant than the immediate needs of these people in 2008. Too often we convince people to focus on the future while neglecting the now of their lives; Eckhart Tolle states that this is ‘insanity.’ Why create more threatening inner need? For me this is so foolish and can be described with no less cynicism; politicians show up on the crux of an election to get back the power to ensure that they neglect again!
So it requires a revolution among the people to do the unthinkable in the eyes of the power mongers….displace them from the very core of the selection process and disallow fear to forestall the process. In this vein I solemnly challenge the status quo fearlessly; too often we as a people complain and fail to act. We must be moved to act on the beliefs we possess and recognize that the only inhibition to our action is our own self. We must be candid enough to challenge our own self and stop any potential decline or depletion of the goodwill mandate provided to our leader, our Prime Minister in 2005; we must be ready to accept the 2010 mandate thereby continuing Dominica’s development with renewed vigour and frankly with two or three new faces! We must muster the courage to say to every self defeating candidacy that looks to much within the confines of his/her own rather than become or grow to be a true representative of the people be gone. Yes take a hike with your commitment to a play book of ‘unforced errors’!
The need for such does not however, empower anyone to become a victim; instead all must recognize that in the process of self reflection and renewal the primary target for such higher value is self. The future, past and current candidates are challenged to rise above the fray and continue to present a front that understands, is accepting and honest. It is the latter that defines the realness of the selection process and the truth about intentions and motives which always defines humans and reveals their true self. If we truly care about our constituents then the approaches presented by all candidates must be placed into perspective, dissected to reflect the heart, soul and mind of the constituents for which only positive growth is the benchmark.
For those of us who toil and sweat relentlessly in our respective communities, our contributions to national development remains hidden often denied, because we are people who are afraid to support the truth that we need representatives capable of and committed to drawing out our latent beauty, our hidden knowledge, skills and talents, fuel on the hope we all live by so that we can proudly say as Stephen Covey, “We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.”
