Human kindness is overflowing

Dear Editor,

In what will be logged as the worst health and economic crisis of our lives, the coronavirus pandemic has brought The Bahamas almost to its knees.

And if we would have learned anything from it, it will be interesting to know that it made us more relevant and humbled us as a people.

Like the coronavirus is not a respecter of persons, the masks do not discriminate. We must all wear them.

More so than we have ever seen, human kindness is being displayed throughout the length and breadth of the country.

Everywhere you turn, churches, civic organizations, and the private sector are coming to the aid of the less fortunate.

The Bahamas Food Network, directed by Philip Smith, and Great Commission Ministries, headed by Bishop Walter Hanchell, have been up and running for quite a while. They have now taken their commitment to another level.

Businesses, even though they are experiencing losses, are giving large donations to benevolent organizations.

Recently, many smaller groups have been coming to the fore.

Individuals who could least afford it are making sacrifices to assist their neighbors.

I know of an organization that wants to remain anonymous, that provided a considerable amount of hot meals almost every day to the poor and needy in communities throughout the island.

They must all be saluted for their humanitarian efforts.

While there have been some concerns about the way the program is operating, many of us do not know how we would have made it without the assistance of the food distribution program.

Last Thursday as IL Cares Foundation initiated the first of three Thursdays food drives, hundreds of cars lined the streets from as early as 5 a.m. for an event that was supposed to begin at noon.

While this giveaway was well received by persons from all over the island, surprisingly a few negative comments were spewed on Facebook about the content of the packages given.

Such actions can only be defined as acts of ingratitude. We will not indulge in commenting any further about those persons.

Thank you, Island Luck.

The country appreciates you, and we look forward to next Thursday.

As noted earlier, never before has The Bahamas faced such a crisis that has brought out the love in us.

Many of us are now seeing life from more positive viewpoints.

As we cheerfully give the vagrant and the street beggar the change from our ashtray, instead of seeing just another bum, we are now seeing someone sidetracked who has lost his way. And we’re now praying for his recovery.

As Jackie Chan stated, “Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.” 

We are now beginning to see the wisdom in believing we are here for purposes brought on by these challenges and are doing as God commanded: To take care of the widows and the orphans; to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.

We can never find enough words to say thank you to the frontline healthcare workers for their unselfish acts of human kindness.

The prime minister in his recent national address, to his credit, did not rebuke or threaten us, but spoke to the hotels reopening, which will bring some much-needed relief and a turnaround in the economy.

But with thousands being jobless, the road to recovery is a long one, and if we are to survive, we will have to continue being our brother’s keepers.

Mark Twain said, “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

As we strive to close out the year on a positive note, we recognize we may never see another year like 2020 in our lifetime.

The memories of the challenges we faced are etched in the annals of Bahamian history and will be embedded in our hearts forever.

We will always be grateful for this moment in time where the love of Christ prevailed with charity as our mentor.

Prayerfully, we are not taking it for granted that the coronavirus cases are dissipating because of anything we did or are doing and not acknowledging that it is because of God’s will, there is a decrease.

If we want to bask in anything, let us bask in knowing that Jesus loves us.

God bless The Bahamas.

— Anthony Pratt

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