Monday, October 17, 2016
My fellow Jamaicans:
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| Prime Minister Andrew Holness |
We celebrate National Heroes’ Day at a time when its deep meaning and relevance could not be more significant. The life lessons bequeathed to us by our national heroes, whose voices echo so eloquently across the span of time, prepare us for our present challenges. Now more than ever we need to rediscover the things which bind us together. Our national heroes, through their fixity of purpose, common vision of liberation and focused determination, summon us to find common cause. They remind us of the ongoing struggle of ensuring that every Jamaican is given the opportunity to fulfil his or her full potential.
There was an overarching ideal which united the struggle of all our national heroes: freedom.
o Freedom from slavery and subjugation
o Freedom to assert our humanity
o Freedom to craft our own destiny
o Freedom to preserve and promote our unique culture
o Freedom to carve out our own path to nationhood
o Freedom to create our own national identity
o Freedom from the tyranny of poverty
o Freedom to construct a society of peace and prosperity
For our national heroes, freedom was the essence of our humanity. They knew that what distinguishes us as a people is our capacity for free action and our free will. But there are things which constrain our freedom and which, therefore, militate against the work of our heroes.
Crime constrains our freedom. The right to life is the most basic freedom. As a society, we have to deeply embed the concept of the sanctity of life. We have to find ways to inculcate and reinforce that in our children. In the home, at basic school, through the media and in the popular culture, we have to teach our very young ones that each life, including theirs, is precious and inviolable.
We can’t wait until they reach adolescence to teach them respect for life.
One way to internalise our heritage week motto, which is ‘Our Heritage…Our Legacy...Our Strength’, is to teach our history to our children. Let them know that the freedoms they enjoy came at a great price. These freedoms must be cherished and protected. When we take the lives of our own brothers and sisters, essentially taking over from our slave masters in destroying lives, we are dishonouring our heroes. more
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