Today, Easter Sunday, many of us Roman Catholics will experience the joy of Easter, the joy of the risen Christ. Today is also the first day of the new season of the Great Fifty Days, or Eastertide, which runs from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday.
Many of us would take another look at how well we kept our Lenten pledges and though some of us may have stumbled several times or even perhaps fallen down on our resolutions, all hope is not lost for as we know our God to be a merciful God, one who will allow you the make a fresh start as you work on strengthening your spirituality.
Let us go for it and make a greater resolve to become better people in our families, our neighbourhoods and ultimately in the wider community. However we cut it, our lives on this earth must always be God’s will first and then ours. With this in mind, let us decide to show greater love and respect for our neighbour.
So as we experience this Easter joy, most of us with our families, we can begin our “new” and “resurrected” life by sparing a thought for those of us in this Archdiocese who are not as fortunate and while we ponder that, ponder also on the words of Fr Clyde Harvey when he spoke to a gathering following the Palm Sunday procession in Port-of-Spain.
Fr Harvey echoed something this column has been saying for quite some time. It is usually referred to as the “ME” syndrome, where the basic theme is in the question “What is in it for me?”
Fr Harvey put it this way, “One of the biggest problems our society faces is that people care only about themselves and not for others. There is a selfishness that is running right through from top to bottom.”
“And that selfishness is manifested in the hearts of most men,” Fr Harvey said.
This disease shows itself daily, you just have to look around—in the workplace, in taxis and buses; on the streets, in the stores and restaurants, in the Parliament. It is even in our churches. Everybody wants to be top honcho. The situation has become so bad that the country is being labelled a “hustle country.” From the top professionals to the Cepep worker, everybody is on a hustle.
This situation did not come upon us overnight. It has been a long time in coming and that is one of the reasons which gave rise to the Synod’s Third Pastoral Priority—Regenerating the Moral and Spiritual Values of Our Society—a most challenging task, given the depths to which the society has sunk.
Looking around for exemplars in T&T today is like looking for a needle in a haystack. They certainly cannot be found; in the Parliament; in the business sector; in many of our schools. There seems to be a serious shortage of quality leaders, who are resourceful, energetic and honest. We may soon have to brand them an endangered species.
As we enjoy our Easter holidays, we should think a little more on what Fr Harvey has said. What this man of the cloth has said is so true that it is frightening and we need to come to terms with exactly what we can do the inspire a turnaround. So let’s go out tomorrow with our “new” and “resurrected” life with every intention of getting rid of the selfishness by becoming a more loving person, to your family, neighbours, workplace colleagues and your neighbourhoods. Let us use the ME to make positive change in our society.
Vernon Khelawan is media relations officer of Catholic Media Services Limited (Camsel), the official communications arm of the Archdiocese of Port-of-Spain. Its offices are located at 31 Independence Square. Telephone: 623-7620.