Sir Howard Cooke
Governor-General SIR HOWARD Cooke, Governor-General, has pointed in his New Year's message to the need for sound values and attitudes to facilitate national development.
Sir Howard's message follows:
"Intrinsic to the total work of our national lives and development is the need to weave in sound values and attitudes. Acts of impropriety, corruption and violence must be dissipated. Our quest to regain acceptable social standards must begin within ourselves and within our families. We must remember that whoever we are, whatever our circumstances, we can make a difference and be masters of our own destiny.
"The festive season has brought with it a wind of change. People seem more pleasant, less fearful and in some instances, eager to do something different. Yes, this past year had its anxious moments. The ravages of wind and rain took their toll, but the recovery has been phenomenal and all together, the climate portrays buoyancy, thanksgiving and hope. We thank God for these and all His mercies.
"We are encouraged to make new beginnings, to accept the urgency to make things better. We have to be grateful for the recent events and new initiatives that have influenced the direction in which we wish to go - a peaceful election, the highly successful staging of the World Junior (Athletics) Championships; the establishment and enhancement of areas for recreation and pleasure including many parks all over the country and, particularly, Emancipation Park, Brooks Park and Catherine Hall Park; the refurbishing and extension of hospitals and other health facilities; continued improvements to our roadways; an intensified anti-crime plan and major awards in tourism. These have become sources of inspiration and hope.
"Still, there are features of our lives that we need to reconsider and redesign. We must identify areas in which we can improve and seek to lift our self-confidence. We must display courage and use our tremendous energy to lift up the standards of living.
"We are conscious of the efforts to acquire skills. We cannot but appreciate the growth in educational institutions, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels. To achieve the utmost in development however, there needs to be a deliberate effort to harness the skills and resources if we are serious about developing the future. Consequently, the private sector will need to invest much more in ensuring the development of skills that will be enabling factors in growth.
"Those of us who have resources will have to be more adventurous. Our attitudes must not direct us just to finding jobs but to creating employment opportunities.
"I am not denying that some of us must be traders but I would wish that more of us would be producers. When we visit the supermarkets we should be taking from the shelves products produced in our own country.
"We are a country with a gold mine of opportunities. Let us not rest until we are sure that we are exploring these opportunities to the fullest.
"We must not only speak of economic prosperity. Our social engineering must make us feel that we are a people of courage, confidence and resilience. There must be unity, pride and the proper use of our energy, showing the abundance of goodwill to all around us.
"The attitude to downgrade and be negative about our country must disappear. As a nation, we have had some great successes and we must talk about them.
"Intrinsic to the total work of our national lives and development is the need to weave in sound values and attitudes. Acts of impropriety, corruption and violence must be dissipated. Our quest to regain acceptable social standards must begin within ourselves and within our families. We must remember that whoever we are, whatever our circumstances, we can make a difference and be masters of our own destiny.
"With God as our leader, and with renewed confidence, courage, love for each other, anxiety to achieve the utmost, let us recommit and dedicate ourselves to serving our country.
"May God bless all of our efforts."
