PLP Rising Stars Speech (Oct 15 2012)

HUGO … IGOR … FELIX … EMILY … FABIN … ALL NAMES OF HURRICANES THAT IMPACTED OUR ISLAND IN ONE WAY OR THE OTHER. IN ACTUAL FACT … BERMUDA WAS FOUNDED ON THE BACK OF A HURRICANE LIKE THESE … A SHIPWRECK BROUGHT SIR GEORGE SOMERS ON SHORE … SO ITS SAFE TO SAY THAT WE KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT STORMS AND STORMY WEATHER.

STORMS ARE SO PREVALENT IN OUR HISTORY AND SO MUCH A PART OF OUR CULTURE THAT WE DEPICTED ONE ON OUR FLAG … SO WHY DON’T WE TAKE WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED FROM LIVING IN ADVERSE CONDITIONS AND APPLY IT TO POLITICS?

YOU SEE… MY GRANDFATHER LIKE YOUR GRANDPARENTS KNEW WHEN STORMY CONDITIONS WERE APPROACHING … BY EITHER USING SHARKOIL OR WATCHING THE SPIDER SPIN ITS WEB CLOSER TO THE GROUND. A SPIDER WEBS’ ABILITY TO ADAPT TO DIFFERENT LEVELS OF STRESS IS THE KEY TO ITS REMARKABLE STABLITY. SPIDER WEBS CAN STAND UP TO A VARIETY OF STRESSES … INCLUDING HURRICANE – FORCE WINDS.

RECENTLY I HAVE SEEN THE EFFECTS ACROSS THIS ISLAND FROM A DIFFERENT KIND OF WIND … A WIND THAT REMAINS CONSTANT … A WIND WHOSE EFFECTS CANNOT BE PREDICTED ONLY RECORDED … THOSE ARE THE WINDS OF CHANGE. A SPIDER WEBS’ DESIGN AND THE UNIQUE PROPERTIES OF ITS SILK … ALLOWS JUST A SINGLE THREAD TO BREAK SO THE REST OF THE WEB REMAINS UNHARMED. IT’S STUNNING BECAUSE ENGINEERED STRUCTURES DON’T BEHAVE THAT WAY - IF … A BUILDING … A CAR … OR AN AEROPLANE … IS EXPOSED TO LARGE MECHANICAL STRESS IT TYPICALLY BREAKS AS A WHOLE AND THE ENTIRE STRUCTURE BECOMES DYSFUNCTIONAL.

IN THE CASE OF THE SPIDERS WEB … ONE HAS TO NOT TAKE A STEP BACK … BUT A STEP CLOSER AND LOOK AT THE INTRICACIES OF THE WEB TO FULLY APPRECIATE HOW IT RELATES NOT ONLY TO US IN THIS ROOM … AS A PARTY … BUT ALSO AS A GOVERNMENT AND EVEN MORE SO, A SOCIETY.  REGARDLESS OF HOW HARD THE WINDS OF CHANGE BLOW … HOW DRASTICALLY THEY SHAPE THE LANDSCAPES OF THIS COUNTRY, AS LONG AS WE CONTINUE TO TAKE OUR INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION FROM ONE OF NATURE’S SMALLEST CREATURES WE WILL BE ALRIGHT.
 
LETS GO BACK IN TIME & I’LL SHOW YOU HOW THE WEB THAT IS TODAYS GOVERNMENT WAS BUILT. PICTURE THIS … FEBURARY … 1963 … THE FOUNDING OF OUR PARTY … OUR 1ST AND MOST IMPORTANT THREAD - THE REDUCTION OF THE VOTING AGE … FROM 25 – 21 … ANOTHER THREAD IN 65 A FEW THREADS BROKE … BUT THE WEB REMAINED UNHARMED!!! WE CONTINUED TO ADD THREADS AS THE PARTY SPUN ITS WAY INTO THE 70’S WITH OUR EVER INCREASING PRESENCE IN THE HOUSE … ANOTHER THREAD - NEW VOTER REGISTRATION SYSTEM … ANOTHER THREAD IN 1979 @ THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE WHICH LEAD TO THE INTRODUCTION OF … ONE MAN … ONE VOTE … OF EQUAL VALUE … ANOTHER THREAD!

AT THE TIME IT WAS NOT JUST US AS PARTY MEMBERS THAT REALIZED THE STRENGTH & SUPPORT THAT THE WEB OF THE PLP PROVIDED … THE GENERAL PUBLIC DID AS WELL. HOWEVER … AS WE ENTERED INTO THE 80’S DESPITE THE GROWING SUPPORT FOR THE PARTY … REMEMBER THE WINDS OF CHANGE NEVER STOP BLOWING & IN 1985 THOSE WINDS OF CHANGE WERE BLOWING AT A GALE FORCE - IT’S A GOOD THING A SPIDERS WEB CAN HANDLE HURRICANE FORCE WINDS!

DESPITE THAT FACT … THE PARTY TOOK SOME DAMAGE … YEAH … WE MAY HAVE ENDED UP WITH A FEW BROKEN THREADS, BUT THE OVERALL STRUCTURE REMAINED -  WHY -  BECAUSE SPIDERS WEB SILK “CHANGES” AS IT IS TUGGED. MY FATHER OFTEN SAYS … THE MORE THINGS CHANGE … THE MORE THEY REMAIN THE SAME … HERE WE ARE IN 2012 & THE WINDS OF CHANGE ARE HOWLING. ITS NO SECRET THAT PEOPLE WANT TO SEE A CHANGE IN THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING … THEY WANT TO SEE THE ECONOMY PICK BACK UP … A CLEAR AND DEFINITIVE END TO THE CURRENT GLOBAL RECESSION … OR AT LEAST BE ABLE TO SEE THE LIGHT @ THE END OF THE PROVERBIAL TUNNEL.

I BELIEVE … THAT WHEN WE HEAR PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THEY WANT CHANGE … ITS NOT NECESSARILY A CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT AS MUCH AS IT IS A CHANGE IN THE WAY WE DO BUSINESS AS A PARTY AND AS A GOVERNMENT. THE BEST WAY TO FACILITATE THIS CHANGE IS TO GO BACK TO THE BASICS … GO BACK TO THE DAYS OF FREDDY WADE & HIS VISION … HIS VISION OF REGROUPING AND REPAIRING.

LETS APPLY THAT TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY … LETS WORK ON REPAIRING THE “BROKEN” THREADS IN OUR WEB … WE CAN DO THAT BY IDENTIFYING WHAT WE SHOULD STOP DOING … START DOING & CONTINUE TO DO WHEN FACED WITH TOUGH TIMES OR LONG JOURNEYS … THE ANIMAL KINGDOM WORK TOGETHER TO OVERCOME.

IF … EVER … THEIR WAS A TIME FOR US TO BAND TOGETHER THAT TIME IS NOW … WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER NOW MORE THEN EVER … TAKE THE CANADIAN GEESE FOR EXAMPLE … THEY FLOCK IN FORMATION BECAUSE THEY CAN FLY FASTER & STAY IN THE AIR LONGER … BECAUSE THEY LITERALLY FLY ON THE LIFT & THRUST OF THE BIRD DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THEM …WHEN A SINGLE GOOSE GETS SICK OR INJURED & FALLS OUT OF FORMATION … TWO OTHERS GO DOWN WITH HIM TO PROTECT HIM UNTIL IS ABLE TO FLY AGAIN. WE TOO SHOULD BE PROTECTING EACH OTHER … NOW MORE THEN EVER.

THESE ARE TOUGH TIMES … WE ARE DEALING WITH A GOLBAL RECESSION … UNEMPLOYMENT … CRIME … AND YES THOSE THREADS IN OUR WEB ARE BEING PULLED, HOWEVER … “WHEN A THREAD IS PULLED … THE SILK’S UNIQUE MOLECULAR STRUCTURE UNFURLS AS STRESS INCREASES … LEADING TO A STRETCHING EFFECT.” REMARKABLY … JUST BEFORE A THREAD BREAKS IT GOES THROUGH A STIFFING PHASE … AND IT IS IN THIS STIFFING PHASE THAT IT CAN ABSORB THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF STRESS.

I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU … BUT I CANT THINK OF ANY OTHER TIME MORE STRESSFUL THAN NOW. SURE WE HAVE FACED ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS BEFORE … BUT NOT SIMULTANEOUSLY.  REGARDLESS I KNOW WE WILL CONTINUE TO STAND STRONG EVEN THOUGH THREADS MAY BREAK … OUR WEB WILL NOT BE COMPROMISED!!!

RIGHT NOW YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING … HOW CAN HE BE SO CONFIDENT … THE POLL’S ARE NOT GOING IN OUR FAVOUR … WHEN WE GO OUT AND CANVASS EVEN PARTY MEMBERS ARE DOUBTFUL. WITH EVERYTHING THAT THIS PARTY IS GOING THROUGH … WITH ALL THE OPPOSITION & MEDIA HAVE SAID ABOUT US AS A GOVERNMENT … HOW IS THIS WEB THAT YOU SPEAK OF STILL HOLDING TOGETHER?

I’LL GIVE YOU THE ANSWER “ THE DURABILITY OF THE WEB IS NOT JUST CONTROLLED BY THE STRENGTH OF ITS SILK … BUT ALSO … HOW ITS MECHANICAL PROPERTIES CHANGE AS YOU STRETCH IT” OUR PARTY WAS FOUNDED ON CRITICIZING THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DAY … BUT ITS TIME FOR OUR “MECHANICAL PROPERTIES” TO CHANGE FROM CRITICIZING TO CRITIQUING.

THE STRENGTH OF OUR WEBS “SILK” IS OUR GOVERNMENT … THE STRENGTH OF OUR GOVERNMENT IS OUR PARTY … THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF OUR PARTY IS IN YOU … THIS IS WHAT WILL SUSTAIN US, THOSE ARE THE TIES THAT BIND US !!! THAT IS WHAT WILL ALLOW US TO CONTINUE TO STAND STRONG FOR BERMUDIANS !!!

NOW TELL THAT TO ANYONE WHO DARES QUESTION US AS A GOVERNMENT … OR AS A PARTY BECAUSE AS IT HAS … AND ALWAYS WILL BE PLP ALL THE WAY & ALL THE WAY PLP !!!