Dear Editor,
There they are: David and Moses. In olden times, in different eras, they each rescued their people from the suffocating bondage of the oppressor; they first lifted them up, and then carried them forward to where they never went before.
Forward to a dream, to a place to call their own; where they are free from the endless cruelties of kings and queens and their ever-present, ever-listening, ever-suppressing Praetorian Guards. It is my belief that today’s secular political David and Moses will rise to the challenge of the moment to confront and overcome Rameses and Goliath, and the sordid company of Philistines roaming at will like so many Colossi across the near horizon.
Perhaps it is not too bold to anticipate the equivalent of a political Ten Commandments in the form of a revised constitution; give the people those tablets written in stone with their tears and pain and anguish from the years and decades of decadence and drudgery. Give them something to cherish and honour by covenanting with them through scrolls inscribed with a timeless, irreversible sacredness. Let such be their own Ark of the Covenant, the representation of prayers uttered and heard.
But David and Moses must brace themselves, for the despotic will come thundering with their chariots of fear (mongering), and their frightening horsemen bearing apocalyptic visions. Now is not the time to be afraid. There will be a parting of the waters. It is fitting that a Red (political) Sea will be cleaved and washed like flotsam and jetsam to the side.
To David I say fear no evil: remember the darkest valley is surmountable. Walk through it, and look to the mountains, help will shine forth from there.
So, after three score and almost ten years, the nation has come full circle back to that prehistoric time, when it took those first fateful political steps at the beginning of the Cold War. It has been a circuitous torturous road travelled. But look closely and discern. Look closely at the configuration at the top and understanding should come, if not wisdom, too. Yes, it is full circle, isn’t it?
Today the political drama of the Guyanese lifetime edges into, if not stirs, the consciousness. The moment is here to transcend the gluttonous debauched self-interest, the shabby political oratory, and the ugly ethnic pandering and patronage. Maybe this time, there can be the spiralling trajectory of grand designs, and still grander actions.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
