Dear Editor,
As a youngster a popular song was ‘Dem Bones’: “Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, and ya head bone connected to ya neck bone and ya neck bone connected to ya shoulder bone,” etc. I also recall the story of a difficult jigsaw puzzle that many could not put together, but a young boy did it in a few moments.
The difficult puzzle was on the flip side of a photograph of a man’s face and the story goes that if you understood the simple basics of the human form you are likely to solve many difficult problems.
The third anecdote is that very often in life, we are consumed or concerned with the trees around us, ignoring the greater influence of the forest beyond. The media have brought to our attention a number of human tragedies, human insensitivity, human cruelty, human corruption, murders, suicides and killings, and now the old time lynching, all the result of a general loss of self respect and a disregard for traditional moral and spiritual values that are necessary to secure the integrity of a society.
When our leaders can ignore the express wishes of the highest forum in the land, that is, the Parliament, we have begun the tearing apart of the fabric of our society, when those who steal big money are either left untouched or are given the preverbal slap on the wrist; and when an ill-equipped police force must respond to political pressure, so they can’t even solve crimes perpetrated against their own, we are on the royal road to anarchy.
Human beings from birth mimic and imitate; this is a natural process. The language we speak is because we imitate sounds we hear from the time we are in the womb. Our responses to situations are a result of influences and examples set in the home, school and the community.
What is now worrisome is that too many persons and institutions, including our religious bodies, seem unwilling or afraid to speak up in the face of wrong. This is becoming pervasive. I heard one official’s response to a very senior political leader’s mistreatment of his female partner. It was, he said, “a private matter.”
The agony we read of daily in the news will continue unless more of us are willing to speak up against inappropriate behaviour, starting at the top. We have so many issues: attempting to control what people hear and see, the licensing of radio and television, the purchase of spurious equipment, water cannon, corruption in the construction and repair of buildings, the breach of our constitution ‒ for example, we don’t have an Ombudsman and we are yet to get a proper Procurement Commission ‒ the list is painfully long.
But this letter is a plea for all those individual organizations to speak up. There is a wisdom that will survive to eternity: ‘Silence gives consent,’ and I say this, all readers and Guyanese of whatever race, colour, religion or age, should be aware that their silence helps breed wrongdoing, so the wrongdoers becomes bold.
Good people must stand up and speak up for the good of Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green, JP
