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PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – President of Parliament, Hon. Lloyd Richardson, MD released the following Christmas Message for the nation.
Fellow St. Maarteners, citizens and residents. On behalf of the members of Parliament of St. Maarten and my family I would like to extend our warmest greetings to you during this festive season.
We've been blessed during this year to have been spared serious natural disasters. We look around at our world and realize that indeed we have been truly blessed. We pause to give thanks for these blessings.
We have faced many challenges and celebrated many joys during 2014. We've lost loved ones and seen new ones brought into this world. We have to be grateful for the small mercies given to us both as a country and as a people.
This season, St. Maarten has experienced an overflow of visitors who have come to shop and this will make many happy. Let us greet them and treat them with the real warmth and friendliness that our island has been known for, "the friendly island". Let us ensure that through our kind service, that we are able to see these guests return over and over again to our beloved St. Maarten.
We look towards the New Year 2015 and resolve to offer our best in service to St. Maarten, to meet challenges that will come as certain as the sun rises in the east. We each must bear in mind and constantly remind one another that this island of St. Maarten belongs to us. We must remind each other that it is the responsibility of each and every able bodied person living on St. Maarten to build her up and take care of her, St. Maarten deserves no less. If we are faithful to this end then we can all take courage, work together and confront the tasks that come our way in 2015 and beyond. A weak link in the chain will result in a broken chain when the strain is placed on it. So we must determine together to keep St. Maarten vibrant and make her a household name in every country represented by the guests who arrive on our shores.
We move towards 2015 with rolled up sleeves and a positive, hopeful mindset and a motto committed to building and growing St. Maarten.
We encourage you to experience a peaceful and enjoyable season with family and friends and to reflect on the shared joy of this time of year. Be temperate in all things and find the gift of sharing within yourself.
Happy Holidays
Lloyd J. Richardson, M.D.
President of the Parliament of St. Maarten
