BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Wednesday 18th September 2019) – “Citizens, friends, comrades, all, we have been tested and we have been tried! And we have come forth as gold even after enduring the ultimate betrayal by one who was nurtured and formed in the bosom of Labour!”
So said Leader of the Opposition St.Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Dr. Denzil L. Douglas during remarks made at the Party’s annual National Heroes wreath laying ceremony held at the RLB Memorial Park on Monday 16th September.
While the ceremony saluted all five national heroes (Sir Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw, the Right Excellent Sir Caleb Azariah Paul Southwell, the Right Excellent Sir Joseph Nathaniel, the Rt. Excellent Simeon Daniel and the Rt. Excellent Dr. Sir Kennedy Simmonds-the only living one), he made special reference to the fallen comrades of the Labour movement namely Bradshaw, Southwell, and France.
“We, in the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party owe everything that we are and that we have and will become to the unshakeable foundation that was set by our forebears upon whose shoulders we now stand.”
Dr. Douglas commented: “Today as we honour and celebrate their brilliance, fortitude, vision and sacrifice, I am deeply moved with emotion because the last five years have shown me the real strength and significance of their enduring legacy. You see, while theirs was a powerful legacy that inspired a movement that transformed our nation, the ultimate test of that legacy has been how much of it has survived even after being battered by the vicissitudes of our politics and the changing times.”
Additionally, he expressed confidence in the futuristic outlook of the party’s continued legacy with the present candidates.
“I am so very, very proud, as I gaze over the faces of the next generation of leadership of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, that their solemn mission, “For the Good that We can Do,” lives on in our Party and, that eighty-seven years later, the torch of our great movement burns even stronger and brighter than it ever has before!”
The SKNLP top official told what should always be remembered about the Party.
“If you remember nothing else about my leadership of this political organisation, I want you to remember this one piece of advice. Our Party must never, ever forget the bedrock principles and values exemplified by the lives and lifestyles of our national heroes – principles of humility, generosity, integrity, honour, selflessness, strength and courage. For as long as we remain deeply rooted in these principles, we will not just find the strength to stand, but to get back up after loss and defeat. This is the advice that I want to stick with you and resound through the ages.”
“So today we pause to remember the lives of our national heroes who have transitioned to the great beyond, and we take the opportunity to reflect on their triumphs and achievements, and we draw inspiration and courage from all that they were able to endure and to overcome so that future generations could have a better existence than they did,” he noted.
Dr. Douglas went on to share a Chinese proverb that says that the definition of leadership is “planting a tree, under whose shade you may never sit”!
According to him: “Bradshaw, Southwell, and France understood this, and they planted many, many seeds! They dreamt many, many dreams for a dehumanized and downtrodden people who were unable and incapable of dreaming for themselves! They saw untapped potential even when all that surrounded them was oppression, misery and hardship.”
“They knew that dreams, like seeds, do not look anything like what they become, and they began the hard work of laying brick by brick, the foundation of the new state and society that they wanted St. Kitts and Nevis to become,” he added.