VERY EARLY ON MONDAY MORNING of this week
I was reminiscing on some meanings given to the letters DLP, and I recalled an occasion in January 1985 when a small group of us celebrated the 65th birthday of an outstanding Barbadian.
It was in the form of a barbecue on Miami Beach on a moonlight night, and among the group were icons like Peter Morgan, Willie Demas, and I believe Alistair McIntyre and a few others, and all of our first ladies were present.
In a discussion on that occasion, facilitated by a modest degree of spirituous support, a suggestion was put forward that DLP could and should stand for the decent, loyal and patriotic people who embody the spirit and essence of the Democratic Labour Party.
What does this mean in the current times we are in?
Our Prime Minister David Thompson, chosen in 1994 to lead us, broke with the culture of the past and revealed to every member of the Barbadian family that he was facing what could be reasonably described as serious health challenges (as many of us do from time to time).
The response from everyone who has spoken to me is that we have a fundamental responsibility, a duty and an honour to pray for him as we do for all those who need our intercessions, and to extend to his loving family, his wonderful mother Margaret, his father, our First Lady and his daughters and all other members of his family, our best wishes. This we have done and continue to do.
In the past, as part of our culture, those in leadership positions never took us fully into their confidence on matters of health. For instance, Father of Independence the Right Excellent Errol Barrow, when he had a necessary medical examination in the United States late in 1986 and was informed he might have limited remaining time with us, kept that to himself, except for, as I understand it, sharing with his cousin Governor General Sir Hugh Springer.
Sir Hugh, some time after June 1987, travelled to Britain via Trinidad where he had to stay for five hours. It was my responsibility and honour to look after our Governor General for that period.
During that time Sir Hugh shared with me many of his experiences, in particular, the major role he played in the Barbados Workers Union. And he obviously felt comfortable in revealing to me the information concerning our Father of Independence: that he had known months in advance that his health was seriously compromised.
Whatever our political loyalties might be, we all admire the courage and transparency of our Prime Minister David Thompson.
Perhaps at this stage I should remind everyone that interpretation of DLP in 1985 is as follows:
Decent – conforming to generally accepted standards, avoiding obscenity of all sorts.
Loyal – true and faithful to duty, love and obligation.
Patriotic – devoted, ready to support our country.
I am exceptionally pleased to state that the overwhelming numbers of our political family are totally committed to these ideals. To suggest, as many of us have been hearing, that a few members of our family are fighting like pigs to get to the political trough, or metaphorically speaking, becoming political cockroaches, is nothing short of an ugly rumour. That is not the Democratic Labour Party way.
Let us close ranks as we have never done before and honour our leader and Prime Minister by demonstrating our decency, loyalty and patriotism.
