Dear Editor,
Are Guyanese happy? Do we expect to be happy? You might think that politics allows such questions to intrude into its deliberations; after all the pursuit of happiness is central to our well-being. But our politicians do not worry about what makes us happy, they focus instead on what makes us comfortable.
Needs can be basic or they can be psychological. People become comfortable when their basic needs are met. They become happy only when all their needs are met. Basic needs for food, shelter, medicines, etc, require money while psychological needs require an enabling environment which only governments can provide.
These latter needs like self-esteem, respect, self-advancement, safety, education and recognition cannot simply be bought. They come out of the economic and social condition and are just as important as the basic needs.
It is a government’s actions and energy that will create the environment for these psychological needs to be met. We need them all to be met and for this reason we must be careful when we vote at elections. There is absolutely no point in voting for a party which will provide some of your basic needs but none or precious few of the psychological ones. In other words there is no point being able to afford 3 square meals daily for you and your family and at night being too scared to sleep because of another power outage or intruders in the dark.
Politicians often speak about the electorate voting for the party that will put food on the table. However, it goes far beyond this. After our stomachs are full and we have clothes on our backs and shelter from the rain the psychological needs kick in and these are often more difficult to satisfy by our own initiatives.
Business people crave a level playing field; young children crave a playing field and our youths crave jobs and justice. Yet without these psychological benefits we will not be happy.
It follows that when we exercise our choice of a political party to run the government we should think not only about food, drink, shelter and clothes, but more about the happiness that money simply can’t buy.
Yours faithfully
F. Hamley Case
