When acting Chief Justice Roger Hamel-Smith visited Beetham Gardens last week as part of the Eye on Dependency programme, a drug awareness campaign sponsored by the Canadian High Commission and hosted by I95.5 FM, his mere presence there was as important as what he had to say.

It is unfortunate that at times the lives of some members of our society are seen as more precious than others; that those who find themselves in one area of the country have privileges that those in another place never enjoy.

 Inequalities are often propped up and sustained by social conditions that not only make living conditions unsatisfactory for citizens in some of our villages but exclude them from participating in the life and development of the nation.

Beetham Gardens is a neighbourhood on the fringe. Situated just outside Port of Spain, and much of it on what were once swamp lands on the edge of the Gulf of Paria, it is on the fringe geographically.

But the people of the area too have come to be seen as people at the extremities of our society. It is easy therefore for the youth who find themselves in the Beetham to question their worth and their future.

Justice Hamel-Smith’s sitting down to talk with young people from the area in their environment was a mark of respect and a sign of friendship. It said: “I believe you are important.”

The visit of the head of the judiciary to the area also acknowledged the Beetham Gardens as a place in transition, where life can get better and people have the ability to contribute in distinct ways to the maturity of the nation.

It was only last month that members of the Beetham Gardens Police Youth Club took a short trip to the Corpus Christi L’Hospice on Observatory Street to entertain the elderly residents with a Christmas concert.

Coordinator of the club, Sgt Sheila Prince, said then that her members enjoyed bringing smiles to people’s faces and had come to appreciate showing love and attention to other people.

Improvement of life

Every society is in transition, some more clearly so than others. There is a role which only the leaders of the nation can play in the progress of our society. Where some may see only decadence, our leaders must inspire hope.

A special work has to take place in our villages and in places such as Beetham. Justice Hamel-Smith’s visit there was an important act in itself but its quiet symbolism must not be lost on us.

The improvement of life for all our citizens must take various paths. The move of Justice Hamel-Smith and the work of the police youth club in Beetham Gardens point the society in the right direction.

“There are all sorts of service to be done,” St Paul says, “but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them” (1 Corinthians 12: 5, 6). 

For the followers of Jesus, a true test of leadership is the willingness to serve and in the quality of service when circumstances are difficult and embarrassing, as in this Sunday’s Gospel of the wedding of Cana.

And it is in those situations too that the Lord continues to reveal himself and point the way.