Dear Editor,
Please let me express, in your paper, appreciation to the many who responded directly (as well as by anonymous letter) to my recent message. First, to those who know my personal circumstances, I have to reply that it is precisely because I don’t now have the happiness of a nuclear family that I can reflect on its importance for the future of the world.
Yes, we have a basic right to follow our chosen loyalties, but that comes with the duty to watch out for the rights of others. It’s the children that remind us every day that we share responsibility for the future of our community, our country and our world. If we think that getting rich will make them happy, then we’re part of the problem. The solution can only be in each of us. Yes, it’s personal. I refuse to be objective about this.
I had the joy of helping to bring up a person to be colour-blind to people, as I was brought up to be. I think he’s happy, partly because of that, and what more can I wish for anybody that I love? But times have changed, and now I believe we should indeed be aware of differences, we should embrace and celebrate differences, and use them to teach a unity that’s all the stronger in diversity. The more differences the better, is what I was trying to say, and I am glad that so many have told me they agree.
A child whose near relatives have visibly different racial characteristics can the more easily be taught that his/her extended family includes entire creation, all entitled to his/her respect and love.
Humanity will benefit if that child grows up as an agent of truth and love against the exploitation of natural differences for the sake of darker motives that infect us all. It’s because that agency is so urgently needed, to counteract the destructive misuse of race, that I believe a new approach is needed in Guyana. Where do we start?
Yours faithfully,
Gordon Forte
