GUEST COMMENTARY: BY DARREN (D’BAS) BASTIAN
(EDITOR’S NOTE: I had to share this masterfully written commentary posted by Darren (D’Bas) Bastian on his Facebook page, entitled “A note to my sister,” in which he eruditely comments on Leslia Miller-Brice’s decision “to enter public life…”
NASSAU, Bahamas, September 13, 2021 — Today, I want to first of all thank The Almighty for giving me, my country and family a blessed uprising.
This morning, I am led to speak to and of my sister, Leslia Marie Miller-Brice. She has made a decision to enter public life and with that comes the daggers, spears, harsh and often vitriolic criticism of a sometimes unforgiving public. You are strong and you have support that you may not even imagine. When the daggers come, work hard and push forward anyway.
Your offering to public life also presents some opportunities to shape people and positively impact our country in a fashion that speaks to your socialization. You gat that too; you were raised with your feet on the ground and your heart in the right place.
I want to remind you that regardless of the outcome of the polls on Thursday of this week, you are loved. You are supported by a family from humble beginnings but lofty ideals. The picture of your present is painted with the gentle and deliberate strokes of patience, love, kindness, compassion, sacrifice, fortitude and resilience; mixed on a spiritual palette that speaks to His mercy and grace.
The colours of your portrait are bright and vibrant because He would have it no other way. You were born to ‘roar’ not just whisper. Many may not understand that but do it anyway.
At the end of the day, the colours and letters on the banners won’t matter, because the day after we will all still be Bahamians. Stay true to who you are, why you have come and your role in moving our country forward.
With that being said, remain humble, keep your aspirations high, keep your heart and motives pure, continue to serve as you have been served and honor the legacy of those that gave us feet to stand on and a good name to be called by.
My sister, I love you immensely and perhaps when I can find the words I’d try to tell you just how much!
❤️D’Bas.
13th September, 2021
EDITOR’S NOTE: I always enjoy reading the occasional brief commentaries posted by D’Bas on Facebook. In response to one of them I recently commented: “Darren, Didn’t you graduate from Howard University? I vaguely remember you having dinner at my apartment on Longfellow Street, N.W., in the 1980s or was that another one of Wes’ sons. In any case, as a veteran journalist, I enjoy reading your short commentaries. Indeed, the quality of your writing suggests that you may have studied journalism at Howard. Did you?”
Here was his response: Oswald Brown lololol. Yes we did have dinner at your apartment, myself and a few of the other Bahamian students at Howard at the time. Thank you for your remarks on my Rants (as I call them). At Howard I studied business with a specialization in Marketing. Writing was truly never my thing. It’s a hobby that I recently started dabbling with.”
However, he reminded me that his visit to my apartment in D.C. was in the 1990s. It turns out that I was also wrong when I noted in a follow-up response, that although “I am a couple years older than you father Wes, we grew up together as young boys at Stanyard Creek, Andros…”
Tonya Bastian Galanis, who is the daughter of Darren’s uncle, Anthony “Tony” Bastian, quickly set the record straight with this response: “Oswald Brown, Darren’s dad was Edwin ‘Smiley’ Bastian.”
I could use the excuse of “old age” for my “memory lapse,” but suffice it to say that the Bastian brothers were always a closely-knit clan, which provides me with the opportunity to take cover under the umbrella of “an honest mistake.”
