Dear Editor,
Everyone knows that Guyana is facing a political crisis. But how many know that Guyana is also facing a more important crisis than a political one?
The demoralization of Guyana is far more significant than the political crisis. To give some examples: A country is demoralised when personal truths, replace the ideal of an absolute truth; when a government uses fear as its primary tool by which to control the masses; when the lines are blurred between right and wrong; and when an elite rules a country and core values no longer exist.
Additionally, a country is demoralized when a sense of arrogance separates the educated from the working class; when our leaders have a ‘we know better attitude,’ and when they start to demean those whom they judge to be of lesser intelligence.
Add to that when pleasure without consequences is promoted and material things are the measure of a man’s success; when a society is no longer guided by a moral compass, and material things become more important than people; when the populace has an attitude of entitlement and a lack of personal responsibility.
Moreover, there are other examples when a country is plagued by high rates of serious, violent crime, and the government is unable to protect life, limb and property; when a society is plagued by unprecedentedly high rates of unwed mothers and fatherless children; and when there is the disappearance of any fixed principles and rules of behaviour – virtue.
Frank Fyffe touched on the moral decadence of our nation in SN of July 14 – “Men have strangled their consciences without shame, cast aside truth and decency as if dropping a bad habit… Our nation is in a state of moral decadence. We come to see that many of the people who like to claim the high moral ground are frauds, hypocrites, wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
GHK Lall also writes about the demoralisation in his book, Guyana: A National Cesspool of Greed, Duplicity,& Corruption. He writes, “Guyana has progressed – degenerated is better – from accidental political and social protest (littering) to deliberate individual depravity (public urination and private corruption) to uncontrolled societal disintegration (utter disregard for rules and values, neighbour and principle).”
He adds: “This is a country choking and dying on each dishonest dollar; dollars earned dishonourably, dollars rightly belonging to others …There they are in garish opulence and spectral outline: corrupt government, corrupt politicians, corrupt courts, corrupt cops, corrupt churchmen, corrupt citizens.”
He continues: “The church no longer provides escape; the holiest of holy rollers, born again, and religious zealots use the roof of denominations and the body of god to rationalise success, to offer opulent penance, and to shelter among the truly God fearing and conscientious.”
I agree with Thomas Carlyle who writes that “morality and character are the basis of healthy, strong societies, and that it is healthy, strong societies which generate wealth and which endure.”
In short, I believe that men, women and most especially children lead better lives in a society built around their faith and the conventional family, and which are held together by the pursuit of virtue and respectability. I believe that faith, family, and home are the centre of a strong society. They are the primary channels where virtue is taught and practised.
Yours faithfully,
Anthony Pantlitz