ANOTHER Independence anniversary is upon us.

Tonight, many of us will go out to celebrate, to go to the official ceremonies, both in New Providence and on other islands, and count down the moments to midnight.

In a year’s time, there will be another anniversary – and perhaps we might even have another government by then. At the very least, we will be on our way to another election day.

Candidates will have been chosen. Doors will be knocked. Hands shaken by familiar veterans or eager hopefuls. Would-be parliamentarians wanting to get your vote.

In today’s Tribune, we include our Independence supplement. A number of voices put forward their hopes for the future.

But in the countdown to the day, we have also been asking people what they would want to change for the future of The Bahamas.

The answers can be remarkably simple.

Less crime. That’s a familiar call. The story on today’s front page shows the horrors we want to avoid. A bloodbath brought about by a violent man inflicting harm on two women and killing the boyfriend of one.

We talk often about the problems of domestic violence – but see it take place again and again.

What we need is a determination to take such crimes seriously, to protect more often than not the women and children affected, to have adequate shelter provision for those who need to get away from abusers who could become killers, for laws against gender violence that truly protect those who need to be protected.

We need all that. And more. We need a cultural change. We need to know to our bones that raising our hands against those we say we love is abhorrent.

What of the other changes people have been saying they would want to see?

Some of the answers were simple things. Not so much red tape in dealing with government. Less tax. More people having a chance to be in the middle class. A chance to get on the property ladder. Improved school grades. Roads without so many potholes. More money in the pocket. More support for young people. Equality for women. Better healthcare.

A lot of these are things people have been promised year after year, administration after administration, and still many are on the wishlist.

A lot of them boil down to one thing – hope that things will get better. A lot of people are not asking for the world, but they are asking for things to get a little bit better, one year at a time.

As we count down to the next election, as we go through this spell to our next anniversary, the incumbent government will need to show it has delivered improvement to voters, while the challengers will need to convince those same voters they can do better.

But all people want is for lives to be uplifted. A little. Consistently. To know that their children’s lives will be better than theirs, that the struggles have been worth it.

That is the challenge for the year ahead. To rise.