The transition of power or change of government is always a good moment to reflect on where we have been, and where we want to go. In essence, this is a great junction to reflect on what the vision forward really is for the country and the people. More than ever, Haiti needs a transformational leader or leading group that can articulate and execute a share vision for the benefit of all Haitians, regardless of social and economical status.
The upcoming elections are significant and could be a major set-point to re-evaluate what is the shared vision of the Haitian people. It is not enough to continually be living in the past and be critical of miss-opportunities, but rather to take advantage of the few opportunities we have and make possible what many think is impossible.
My encounters and talks to fellow compatriots have led me to believe that we all want to be free to control our destiny. Besides demanding access to the basic necessities of life, such as schooling, housing, healthy food, healthcare, security and the right to be civically engaged, the Haitian people want to be a cohesive society. It is in our DNA to embrace each other, and preserve the ideals that every person is somebody. We have desire to be a great nation, where freedom for all with be the blood that makes circulate our desire to progress. The Haitian vision is not that much different than what other people aspire. We want to be able to live in peace and harmony, where the conditions for prosperity can sprout like a tulip in the spring.
It took a solar eclipse to validate the law of relativity; many Haitians thought the earthquake could do for Haiti what the eclipse did for the law of relativity, but conditions after the quake have only validated on thing that it would take a massive Haitian involvement to get Haiti on that right track. We need an open government that will practice a policy of inclusion and that will treat everyone according to the law of the land.
In the execution of our shared vision, we will find that it’s possible to think of a new Haiti. A country, where our past will not be zombie to us and haunt every good intentions that we have as a people, but rather to use the past to correct the wrong of the present and set the precedence for an irreversible prosperous future.
If we take for example the unification of Germany in 1990, and understand where that country came from to where it currently is in the geo-political stratosphere, we will come to realize that with a fraternal bond, and seeing our future through a common lens that indeed our potential to be great is limitless. Many times, when the world counted us out, we found a way to disprove them; some thought, we would go extinct after the earthquake, but we found the strength to live. We need to harness that energy, in order to build a society for the well-being our children.
There cannot continue to be animosity among us over petty things. We are too great of a people to be drowning in the ocean of misery. This is our moment to once again disprove the fallacy that Haitians cannot do for themselves, for ever since our inception we have been surviving solely on our capacity to do for ourselves. A belief in the common vision focus towards openness to prosperity for all will not only guarantee our survival as the greatest among the greats, but also it will emphasize the sheer belief that all Haitians believe in freedom.
Our nation has stumbled many times. We have made plenty of mistakes, just like all other nations, but the key to our survival in the face of all these adversities have been our core belief that we are destined to be free and with freedom the sky is really the limit. Together, we fight; together, we fall and together we will once again rise to rejoice in our victory as nation of determined people.
Our next president, whoever that might be, will deserve all of our supports, hard work ethics, determination to succeed, and above all our respect, in order for them to lead us out of this obscurity to the field of illumination. This is our opportunity as a people to be part of the solutions and be part of the state. The government philosophy might be different than ours, but the roots that hold us all together breathe and bleed Haitians. We need to share the vision of a free and prosperous Haiti for all Haitians. As one people, one government, we will say we are all Haitians.
Ilio can be contacted at ilio@zanmi.com