By Ian Strachan, For The Guardian

I REACH! Seven months in Canada and I finally back home! Seems simple enough, but boy, comin' back was a tough decision to make.

See, I was tired freezin' my toes off in Canada but I make the mistake of reading the papers on-line every day. So I was up to speed on last year's Media Murder Contest.

Nassau life was beginning to look like one long episode of "Gun Smoke." Don't mind how Hubiggity say we ordinary citizens don't have nothin' to be scared of. Armed robberies, rapes, home invasions, etc. ain't hoodlums wackin' hoodlums. That's hoodlums preying on sitting-duck citizens; and it seems it's a roll of the dice as to whose door will get kicked in next.

So I had my doubts . . . until I looked out the window of that plane and saw that water. I forgot my concerns about Nassau being the new Wild Wild West. I miss yall, ya know? Even though yall head hard and yall say you want change but ain't mean it. This truly is one of the most beautiful places on God's earth.

I don't miss Canada one bit. Canadians special! I mean, have you ever seen people stand in line to catch a city bus? When it's 15 degrees Fahrenheit? Bahamians would elbow you in the neck and poke you in the eye to get on the bus first, talkin' 'bout line! Obviously, those folks are reared that way and taught from a very early age to wait.

Speaking of waiting, when we got there, we found out that all the pre-schools in the town were full. The waiting lists were two years long! (You know that can't happen in Nassau, hey? Every Tom, Dick and Mary turning they house into a pre-school and painting Dora the Explorer on the wall.)

But in Fredericton (New Brunswick) I was stuck with my 2 and my 1-year-old day and night while the wife was studying. Well, you know, I started workin' overtime trying to hire babysitters. It was shameful. I never was so happy to buss out the front door . . . so I could walk — a mile in the cold . . . um, to the only mall . . . and go browsin' in the town's heart and soul . . . Walmart. (You can't escape it folks. That lying yellow smiley face is everywhere.)

But let's not forget how much WAITING is involved with living in Canada. The university didn't cut on the heat 'til late October. As far as they were concerned, it wasn't cold yet! These people were holding on to summer for dear life; wearing shorts and T-shirts in 40-something weather. Well, all four of us got sick. So we tried to find a doctor. Ha! We in Canada, remember? Since healthcare is "free," private doctors are hard to come by; but no fear, there's a list for you to wait until a private doctor has an opening for a new patient!

Meanwhile me and my sick boys gone to the public clinic with all the other folks who ain't had no "Family Physician." Can anybody imagine Bahamian doctors turning people away because they have all the clients they can handle? Man, they'll send one nurse to take your pressure and give you a sugar pill before they pass up on that easy money.

But I gripin' too much; there were some good things about Canada Dry. Tim Hortons and CBC Radio. The Canadians do donuts and radio very well. And although people kept staring at me, wifey and the two black pickaninies, they were friendly in that little New Brunswick town.

The men seemed very family oriented and were eager to ask about my kids and give some old-fashioned parenting advice. They seemed to really enjoy and cherish their children. Unlike here, where so many men don't seem to know how their children eat from day to day.

But never for a minute was I prepared to trade Canada, as organized, disciplined and progressive as it may be, for my precious Bahamas. Even though the murder rate for all of Canada was 1.85 per 100,000 and ours is over 25 per 100,000, crazy me; I still choose these islands.

But ladies, gentlemen and jungless, we have work to do. Crime threatens to permanently disfigure the Bahamian way of life. Are we up to the task, or were the Bahamians of 50 years ago made of better stuff? They rose to the challenge of a lifetime and made themselves a free people.

Are we now going to cower and refuse to answer the call in these few days God's loaned us? I know things aren't as simple as they were in 1958. See, now the enemy ain't Bay Street or England; the enemy is staring at you in the mirror and knows you inside out.

It looks to me like only the gun boys have resolve nowadays. It looks to me like only the criminals are willing to sacrifice for what they want. What about the rest of us? Once we've got security bars for our doors, dogs for our yards, and guns for our bedside drawers, then what? Are we going to turn this country around? Doing so means getting involved and sacrificing our time. This can't wait folks.

Justice has become a joke in Nassau. The FNM government needs to either pay Bahamian judges more or ship judges in from abroad. And while they're at it, ship in more public prosecutors. And police too, cause our men can't pass the Police College exam!

Half the Fox Hill inmates were there awaiting trial and 114 murder suspects were on bail in 2007. A murder suspect has a 50-50 chance of walking, according to Wayne Munroe. And as Ingraham revealed, witness intimidation is rife. Meanwhile, PLPs have the nerve to say Urban Renewal was doing something about all this. How's about actually convicting a murderer once in a while instead giving murder suspects Legal Aid (as it was rumored)? How's about MPs stop representing suspected drug traffickers?

But forget the politicians, what are we going to do people? So many of us are contributing to the spirit of slackness and compromise that permeates our country. We're doin' everything from running lights, drinking and driving and bribing officials, to ducking taxes, refusing to wait in lines and lying to customs. We have vigorously sewn the wind.

So I close with just one suggestion. I just want to challenge the churches. Not the pastors, but the church people. Why can't neighboring churches that are near schools, partner and adopt those schools to create after-school programs, ala Tony Evans' Urban Alternative (www.tonyevans.org)? It is the only sensible thing for Christians to do, given the state of families and communities. No more sermons for the evening news please. Let's meet some real needs for a change.

Cause seriously, I don't want to live in Dodge City. "Gun Smoke" was an OK show but I prefer L'il Nassau. And I sure as heck ain't going back to Canada.

* Ian Strachan is a playwright, poet, novelist and filmmaker. He teaches English at The College of The Bahamas. Write: ianstrakan@gmail.com or visit:

http://ianstrachan.wordpress.org