THE JOURNEY ends today. After two weeks of public mourning, the Most Hon. Hugh Lawson Shearer is being laid to rest in National Heroes Park. The tributes have been many, providing occasion for a return to civility, if only for a while. It has become the convention to laud public figures to the point of extravagance at the time of their passing, attributing to them qualities of near-sainthood. It has been said in jest that on occasion, even close family members had to take a reassuring look to see if the dearly departed being so highly praised was indeed the one they knew.
Mr. Shearer has been commended for many virtues. Even if one wanted to debate the veracity of all of them, one which is incontrovertible was his capacity for civility, his unfailing courtesy and the ability to show respect in equal measure to the canepiece worker as to the boardroom executive.
Perhaps, in memorialising him and in doing a favour to ourselves, it would be good to pause and reflect on how such qualities are needed now more than ever. The epidemic of coarseness in word and deed, the lack of respect which we have come to take for granted in our dealings with each other, the tide of violence and cruelty which threatens to swamp us cannot continue to be mere points for talking and complaining, but must be addressed with urgency.
The response to such an appeal might well be that these are the realities of these modern times. We are not alone in the departure from the old norms, some will say but the response has to be that decency, integrity, honesty, are characteristics which belong to every age. The call to "love of neighbour as of self" resonates as strongly today as it did yesterday. We fail to observe it at our own peril.
Perhaps Mr. Shearer and his generation were able to respond because they had to give account to those who set the standards of the day. In that time, the school, the church, the home were the moral centres of authority, for the poor as well as the rich.
Hugh Lawson Shearer came from modest beginnings which did not facilitate the kind of deviant behaviour now being ascribed to poverty. He lived by the creed of "work hard to achieve." Even at the pinnacle of success and power, it is said he never forgot those lessons and shared them with the many young people whose well-being was his concern.
Since his death, it has been remarked how little this generation knows of his history and others of his time. The fault may well lie in the deficiencies of our education system and our noted short memories when it comes to the development of our own people. While it may not be possible to correct such shortcomings in the immediate future, we would do well to encourage our young to build a firm foundation for their growth and advancement, based on the principles of respect for self and others, in the example set by the likes of a Hugh Lawson Shearer.
Today, one chapter closes. We can open a new one, offering hope for the future.
