I would love to know why we really celebrate Mashramani. Ask a school child and he or she will say almost robotically, “Mashramani is a celebration after hard work.” Hard work my –bleep –
Is the work done? Have you taken a stroll through the city of late? Is the hard work done?
Last year I listened to a man on the phone, almost in tears because his song wascensored and he felt victimised for what he knows is his freedom of expression. He was the Calypso Monarch and he felt dethroned. Is the hard work done?
Last year I committed myself to discovering my country, so I went out on the road for that Mashramani carnival-like feeling and to me it was just wining, drinking and partying for no reason just because it was a public holiday. Was this a celebration after hard work? Is the hard work done?
The arts in this country suffers because of lack of resources and support. Tertiary education is crying and health care is in shambles. There is a lack of proper sanitation. There are broken streets littered with garbage, a court system of jokes and a parliament of hate. There is an atmosphere of corruption and a divided nation whose heart aches. Tell me! Tell me! Is the hard work done?
We are building a country on the principles of Republicanism that what is ours is ours and for all of us. We all must work together, but no hard work is done; like many things in Guyana it was started then went to the dogs.
Who respects us anymore when we don’t even respect ourselves? What is a Cooperative Republic anyhow? Run through an atlas and you will see that Guyana is the world’s only Cooperative Republic and instead of being proud of that fact we hide it. We don’t act on it and we certainly don’t respect it.
If we did we would have been sixty years ahead instead of sixty years behind. We have so many resources the world needs, even a hint of petroleum offshore. We are the largest Caricom state with more bountiful assets per square mile than any of the Caribbean islands yet we struggle more than they do for one simple reason: we don’t respect ourselves. If we did we would pull our socks up and work as the cooperative republic we are.
Yes, I am disappointed and this shouldn’t be my spirit for such a day but my complaint is that we have nothing to be joyful for today. If I were your president I would cancel the float parade and only have the flag raising ceremony and the art exhibitions so you can see the pride and value of your nation. Instead of partying down the road I would have you clean the road. I know I am very young and I have a lot more to learn and a lot more to endure, but I am sick and tired Guyana. We really have nothing to celebrate because we haven’t done the hard work a republic is supposed to do.
We still fight over foolishness that happened donkey years ago, instead of respecting that we are a land of many peoples with one identity. The youths should be able to think and break the barriers the elders put up. Instead many of us are choosing to go down that same path of division and disgust.
The hard work will never be finished as long as we remain divided. (Jairo Rodrigues)
