Dear Editor,
The phenomenon of anger seems endemic to our social fabric in Guyana. Since the beginning of the 2010, at least 13 women have been killed as a consequence of domestic violence.  The manner of their deaths indicates deep psychological problems and anger on the part of their killers.  (An interesting study would be to research the trend and levels of domestic violence homicides in Guyana over the past 15-20 years.)

Secondly, driving in Guyana is a nightmare. Our driving habits must be on a par with the worst in the world.  Most of our drivers are discourteous, too many are reckless and we are often not concerned about the legal consequences of reckless driving until we are in an accident.  The police must be commended for their efforts to be visible on the roadways during peak traffic hours, but much more needs to be done on penalizing reckless drivers; ensuring rigorous testing and screening of potential licencees; and in proactive traffic policing in which there is a police presence either observed or unobserved in strategic locations during off-peak hours. I bet if the police checked their records, they would find that most of our road fatalities occur during off-peak hours.

Thirdly, our public conversations reveal that we are most interested in the personal affairs of others and ‘bad talking’ them rather than improving our lot. If we are not ‘bad talking’ someone we are most likely talking angrily about each other, someone or something.  It’s as if we are psychologically locked in a competitive state of affairs with each other that manifests in words of war, discrimination and marginalization, and in some cases physical altercation. Anyone interested in seeing this first hand, has simply to observe the conversations of school-age children, and the tone in which debates are often held in Parliament.  In the latter case the anger is most often motivated by political animosity rather than being policy related.

The second part of my third observation concerns the suspicious and angry stares we direct at people known and unknown to us. Walk down any street in central Georgetown or anywhere in Guyana for that matter and you will encounter at least three persons who look at you suspiciously or angrily unless you are a favoured one.  Even then the favoured one is still likely to receive some hostile stares. If you stop and ask someone why they just looked at you the way they did, they either have no clue about what has been transmitted by their facial expressions or you begin to understand that both types of stares stem from fear and a sense of helplessness.  Finally, what happened to our voluntary spirit? I have spoken with numerous persons who have told me that community cohesion has been eroded by fear, selfishness and financial constraints.  I smell local capitalism socially unchecked and our recent history of violence, particularly perceived/real cases of ethnically-charged violence.

Life in Guyana has undoubtedly improved materially; however, antiquated habits and attitudes persist to the detriment of the well-being of our families, friends and neighbours. Thus the material changes we observe have not been accompanied by meaningful levels of social consciousness,  leaving us paralyzed and often dumbfounded when our social fears (in the public and private domains) and lethargic behaviour, particularly in the public sector, manifest in unthinkable acts of crime, corruption and disregard for life and limb.

I recently read a book, titled Way of The Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman, in which a sage told Dan that “Anger is stronger than fear and sadness.” He was making the point that Dan was unable to constructively channel his anger to better social, personal and inter-personal conditions and relationships, thus inhibiting his well-being.  This challenge affects us all, yet it is a challenge worth taking because our daily life experiences and our well-being improve as soon as we positively change the way in which we think and communicate with ourselves and others.

We should be conscious of our anger, its sources and consequences, and act vigilantly to channel our anger into more constructive and helpful acts.

Yours faithfully,
R Small