WE hope that today’s investiture ceremony of national honours and awards at King’s House will signify to the country more than an appropriate gesture of a grateful nation.

For implicit in this morning’s ceremony are the contributions to our national development made by many Jamaicans in previous years that have led to this moment.

While the country has so far found it fitting to grant the title of National Hero to seven outstanding citizens, Nanny, Sam Sharpe, George William Gordon, Paul Bogle, Marcus Garvey, Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley, the fact is that Jamaica has continued to benefit from the works of hundreds of unsung heroes, many of whom are more concerned with the humanity of their actions rather than self-aggrandisement.

They cover many fields, and, in most cases, are not financially wealthy individuals. However, the simple, yet important things that they do impact on peoples lives, giving them hope and, in the process, stirring our collective conscience.

We pay tribute to those unsung heroes today, in much the same way that we hail the struggles of our national heroes for emancipation, equality, democracy and the right to self-government.

For this reason we again urge those charged with the noble task of selecting Jamaicans for honour to rise above petty partisan considerations and search most diligently for those most deserving. Otherwise, the honours will amount to little in value and will be soon of no relevance among our emerging generations.

We have also lamented in this space before, the unfortunate reality of the existence of a view among the wider population that there’s no currency in recalling our history. However, we hold firmly to the view that it is by knowing and exploring our history that we can truly understand why and how we have got to this point.

And that knowledge, we believe, equips us better to advance, particularly in today’s world in which shrinking borders have contributed to increased levels of cultural penetration and diversity.

It is, therefore, important that we respond to those developments with the kind of zeal that drove our national heroes’ vision for a better Jamaica. And, if we are to achieve that ideal, it is also vital that we continue to draw strength and inspiration from their struggles.

Against that background, we are heartened by the Ministry of Education’s decision to reintroduce Civics into the school curriculum at the primary and secondary levels. For while our students are equipped with biographical knowledge of our heroes from Social Studies, their exposure to the teachings and philosophies of the national heroes will provide them with a better foundation on which their transformation to responsible citizens can be built.

No one can deny that all seven national heroes have left a legacy of which we can be justly proud. Our task now is to preserve that legacy and build on it.

The persons who are being recognised today for their contribution to Jamaica’s development are to be congratulated. We also hope that they will regard this honour as a call to further national duty.