“To my eyes, the uprooted Haitian remains this denatured son who deliberately chooses to live in denial of his truest roots, and especially if he attempts to differentiate himself with a certain impermeability towards the minable situation of unfortunate children of Haiti.” (Dr. Harry-H).   

 The present debate about the fate of Haiti is not necessarily about the Constitution of the year 1987 or about the results of 1987, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2006 general elections. I am certain it is about more than that. I believe that any objective discussion must be centered on the issues of humility, civility, competence, and finally patriotism which can perhaps shed some lights on some new phenomenon of contacts that are clearly observed in this contemporary Haiti.

I am not in the position to prioritize these constructs due to the fact that they are all important and have all been neglected in the Haitian culture over the years.  However, Haitians must now realize that the anomic behaviors observed during the last 97 years (1912 - present) were and still remain similar to the behaviors of the barbarians and/or uncivilized people; except for the period of 1916-1934 (under the guns of the American occupation), a time when Haiti has known, at least, some thin moments of administrative order and economic prosperity. 

Somehow, Duvalier (father) has repeated the same tactics in order to provide a little dose of social stability. Yet, it was more done with the instillation of fears, intimidation, unjust imprisonment, and constant use of guns and whips (coco macaques) inflicted to a good portion of the population by the bogey men of his regime. Haitian fairy tales report that the reign of Duvalier (fils) was more open and less fearful than that of his father due to the fact that Jean Claude’s bogey men were less ferocious than their predecessors. As a matter of fact, many contemporary Haitians tend to refer themselves to the times of Duvalier (fils), when questioned about the late good old days of their homeland. Ironically, the political periods marking the post-Jean Claude Duvalier era have proved to be shameful, and even oppressive to the general population. And as my general belief and perception, Haiti was and still remains nothing than a jungle ruled by a band of impudent people who oppose democratic and transparent forms of government. NO LAWS . . . NO RELIGION is still practically the form of governmental dynamics in my homeland.

Humility allows people to empathize with each other and to acknowledge the causes and/or sufferings of others. This cluster of idealism which inspires human beings to welcome dialogue, accept differences and defeat and most especially to express gratitude and sorrow in times of danger and division do not exist in my homeland. Do the lack and/or the absence of it contribute to our constant infightings? I simply do not know, but I am pretty sure that it does find its place in the hearts of most of the civilized people of the world.  Presently, it seems that no one takes the time to address this critical issue.

Civility, on the other hand, tells us to be aware of our own behaviors and the possible consequences that these behaviors might inflict or instill in the minds of our surroundings. This humanitarian entity and skill is rarely found in my homeland. It is indeed still a common practice to see a so-called grown up person to pull out his private part, right in the open air and/or in the face of elders or young children, and urinate, without hesitation, on the walls of a neighbor or any government building. Yet, nothing is said about, and probably there is not any law in the book to enforce a so-called civil disobedience. That type of behavior, right in the beginning of this 21^st century, is clearly seen as an act of primitivism. Furthermore, an agent of government can, at anytime, decide to put on his car’s sirens in order to make ways for him to run his personal business, or even to smack another fellow citizen; yet for no apparent reasons. Then he/she would go somewhere else to brag about the action he/she has just undertaken. No shame and regrets! Again these types of behaviors define who we are. Sad enough, one may be tempted to argue that the absence of such entity among a great majority of our population easily explains the eternal chaotic state of Haitian affairs and politics. Well, it is just a thesis.

Patriotism tends to speak for itself because it automatically inspires to the citizens of a nation the love, attachment, dedication, and commitment to the common causes of his/her country. Consequently, these citizens will band themselves together to fight over important issues and also to celebrate accomplishments/victories.  They will work together in order to set up rules, laws, and regulations for common bonds and cultural identity, communities, citizen’s welfare, and finally to preserve the country national patrimony.  Unfortunately, a great majority of the citizens of Haiti seem to be engulfed themselves in a quite large basin of selfishness and/or the politics of the “me-first and only me”, similar to lion’s jungle which functions under the same principle; therefore they completely forget that they are citizens of one nation. What a tragedy!

Competence, be it in politics or in public and private administration, mainly relates not only to the abilities to produce but also to will, determination, and also moral/ethical character and ground to do things for self, and then on behalf of the community which one serves. If so, how do we (Haitians) expect uneducated, inexperienced, non-professional, impudent individuals with barely some background in security guard or even very little professional and social experiences to become lawmakers, mayors, directors of big governmental institutions, secretaries of state, ministers, ambassadors, other diplomats, etc. and, at the same time, not also expect to reaping the consequences of these kinds of frame thought and actions; often times they are pure deliberated sophisms because the boilermakers of this nation knew ahead of time what to expect from their political moves. It is obvious to the rest of the world that no individual can give back and/or share with others something that he/she does not have or never had inside. When that person is placed in high power position, he/she can only regress and show his/her true colors to the society around him/her, which is, most of the times, the “law of hill/talon” or the “donkey behavior”.

All being said and understood, it is best then to argue that Haitians are reaping what they indeed have sown. I can only hope that my brothers and sisters, who live in Haiti and overseas, will be able to pull together the human, sociopolitical, financial resources to extract this homeland out of this chronic mess. And on the same note, I strongly advise that the Haitian policymakers incorporate the four components cited above in their future vision and planning for Haiti, so the future generation of Haitians can benefit from such addendum to the existing governmental policies, if implemented.