Dear Editor,
We have just completed another milestone as 43 years a cooperative Republic, and around the corner there’s yet another; our 47th independence Anniversary. As I love to do from time to time, I was rereading a letter written sometime back by Dave Martins under the caption `I’m lucky, I was born a Guyanese’. I kept this short wonderfully written piece which I thought was inspiring. And this is why I feel that there are some writings/pieces which ought to be republished every once in a while because of what they represent -quality substance. In this era of science/electronics reading it seems has lost its place, no more in vogue and has been relegated to the waste basket as outdated, replaced by electronic gadgets. Young people hardly take any pleasure in reading, period, and very few people preserve articles of value for any long period-say a year-in their software; not when there is a delete button. How unpleasant it is that after 43-47 years in control of our own affairs there are so many disturbing things. There is a social/moral decadence that pervades, that is infested in every nook and cranny like a cancer, crude, bold frightening that even with eyes closed and ears blocked you can still feel it.
We are not winning the battle with morals, standards, etiquette, discipline etc, whatever is uplifting. Just look at the gruesome forms of violence/killings being committed daily sparing none! Man, woman and child, in schools, homes, clubs, the streets, social gatherings etc. in full view of all! They happen so frequently and naturally without the least thought or consideration, almost at the drop of a hat a life is snuffed out. Listen to the expressions, unbecoming conversations of young people attending school- primary, secondary, university or else; look and listen at the lewdly dressed women going about their business not caring a toss who hears their foul-mouthed expressions, be it children, priests or rogues, they have shirked all decency. You stand along the road waiting for 10-15 minutes to cross and no driver has the time to stop not even at the pedestrian/zebra crossing.
Let us not fool ourselves about being a great people and this country being the best in the world, we have to work on it, we are definitely not in good shape, let us take off our rose coloured glasses and call a spade a spade, we are on wheels down a slippery slope. You see people doing things that are as wrong as two left side shoes and you are afraid to tell them! They can even become violent, and this is not folklore I’m speaking. A while ago this rotten conduct, this scenario would have been attributed mainly to a particular type, not so anymore, it’s now across the board, a free for all; the young and old, male/female. Our social ethos ain’t nothing to smile about, it’s sort of mournful when you see pretty and smartly dressed young girls using the most squalid expressions that would stop you in your tracks. In Linden this obnoxious carrying on of school children who gather at the MacKenzie market/bus park for hours after school made news on the L.T.V where many voiced their disgust at their behaviour. Definitely this electronic/gadget generation like a mad elephant, has cut loose and gone berserk.
We are drowning in our own roughly crafted sordid makings nurtured by a fanatical and vicious self interest/cravings at any cost-the sky’s the limit. It’s a kind of blind madness which without rhyme or reason eats from the inside out every piece of thread that hold the moral fabric of our society together, and this is what is so frightening, it’s no thrill but like a monster, a virus which, once you are a part of the spread you will be touched-“all are involved all are consumed”. Take the mini-bus culture; one of the worst things that we have come by, just look at what it has done to us all, especially our young women- talk about blown values! The mini-bus culture is like a disease injected into us with untold damage; from robbery to gang-rape to kidnapping; vulgarity and disrespect for both young/old; reckless driving and road carnage, and it’s not getting any better.
The foul-mouthed touts at the top of their voice as they tug and abuse commuters in full view of senior police officers ensure that it remains that way- Good Friday or else who cares. Writer Harold Bascom once referred to TV as a Trojan horse and we can’t totally disagree with him; with all its positives come the negatives. There is hardly a movie that isn’t loaded with “nuff cuss”, not violent laden and various forms of gangsterism on how to successfully pull off a robbery leaving a string of casualties along the way and which the villains in our midst are forever keenly interested in-and we all gobble up. What goes on definitely doesn’t give any appearance of us caring for each other, of being our brother’s keeper, it’s all a craving and wild obsession chasing whatever, as someone correctly wrote: “The schools which were run by the churches lacked the violence today. The mansions we see do not represent the characters we tend to associate in the old days”. No doubt it is indeed an uphill task in trying to pull this shattered society back from the brink, and it’s no play, it is like trying to walk between the rain drops but we need not go down without a fright, we have got to be constantly reaching, there’s got to be a way, somehow to arrest this damnation.
We all can see the monotonous lawlessness weakening our social structure, what we need is the courage to halt it, it is a herculean task but with noble blood we can change course, we must not resign ourselves to what’s going on.
Why is it this country is not inspiring its people beyond self grabbing? Oh! by the way, why can’t people understand that self preservation/interest though not immediate ultimately pivots on looking beyond self. I think more than ever this is the time when our artists should answer to a higher calling, tasked with the moral responsibility of restoring some balance of beauty, dignity and pride through meaningful, uplifting and entertaining craftsmanship, shifting gears away from the mundane-soul inspiring. “I’m lucky I was born Guyanese” is something every Guyanese should be proud to say and really mean every word of it because deep down inside what he/she sees makes them truly happy.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
