Bahamas Social Fabric being weakened by the wealthy?

Rick Lowe

On Friday, December 11, 2009, in a Letter to the Editor of The Nassau Guardian, Mr. Dwayne J. Hanna tells us that, "...the disparity between the wealthy and the poor has grown so dramatically over the past few years that it has significantly contributed to the weakening of our social fabric...."

While I have no issue with the rest of his letter or his hope that Bahamian entrepreneurs might be allowed access to foreign capital, the above statement raises more questions than answers.

1. Where is the data that "...the disparity between the wealthy and the poor has grown so dramatically over the past few years..."? and,
2. How does this difference contribute to "...the weakening of our social fabric...."?

When my grandfather had to go barefoot, like many other Bahamians, the wealth that existed in those days did not impact their concern for each other, nor their ethics.

The social fabric was stronger if I read history correctly.

Is Mr. Hanna implying that poor people are jealous of wealthy people so they don't care about anyone else? That the poor are so blinded by this that they do not attempt instill ethics, the desire to improve their lot and just plain common sense into their children?

A famous book reminds us that the poor will always be with us, but by creating the impression that people are poor because others are rich is a disingenuous analogy.

Without the creation of wealth, we would have even more poor among us. I am grateful for those people that have the foresight and ability to create things and jobs that the rest of us can find work to help make our lives better.

Would it be better if we were all poor?

I don't particularly want to go back to living in the dark ages.

The reality is the wealthy are helping the social fabric.