Dear Editor,
‘Silence’ is defined as the absence of sound. Another emotional plea in the form of a letter in the Sunday Stabroek (18-07-2010) ‘Why can’t boom boxes be outlawed except at certain events?’ was published. Lord knows, sometimes the only place people who are being affected by persons who are so inconsiderate can turn to is the newspaper. The writer in the letter, like many writers who have written to the press about noise nuisances over the past years, has detailed the horror and utter disgust experienced, even as it was 6:30 pm—nightfall in Guyana. People work hard these days, and no one deserves to be tormented at those times of the day by loud annoying music.
I know far too well what the writer is going through and what so many other Guyanese live through—days of suffering, as if their eardrums would burst; days when they’re edgy and when they face the harsh sound of that thing that I detest so much: noise.
It’s 8:30 at the moment I am penning this essay, and my neighbours are still blasting their music. They have a business. They fetched their boom-box and placed it in their backyard. My room is just opposite their backyard. They believe they have done some good by moving their boom box to the backyard, so it wouldn’t affect happenings in front, but they are giving me hell here. All through my UG exams, I had to put up with it. I say nothing. I am a person who builds anger silently from within. One of these days, I say…one of these days I will blow. It wouldn’t be nice. I write with anger and frustration here. I just re read the letter I made mention of above.
Well as if it couldn’t get worse. I couldn’t shut my eye earlier today (Sunday). The other neighbour has a guttering business. The banging and lashing and clanging hurt my ears and my head. Sometimes, as early as 5 am the banging and knocking begins, I wake up a very angry person. It’s my daily suffering, Editor, and there’s no one you can tell. There is a village office nearby and no one there is telling these people anything. No police, no law person—no one. It’s all a waste of time. And so, I am sandwiched between two very noisy neighbours. How I wish sometimes to just run away and live away from the general population. But sadly, everywhere in Guyana is becoming noisy and downright loud. The laws in parliament are there just sitting, too, a waste of time. There are no noise nuisance laws in Guyana. If there were, citizens of Guyana would have peaceful days and nights in their homes.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
