Dear Editor,
Currently, there is a very important discourse both in and out of the media domain about forgiveness and reconciliation. However, permit me to add a line or two to the conversation. Both the People’s National Congress (PNC) and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) have done wrong to Guyana and to the people of Guyana, hence, neither of these two political parties are without sin. So as the saying goes, ‘ye who is without sin, cast the first stone’.
The issue here is not about the call for forgiveness and reconciliation but more a question of who is making the call. The message is equally as important as the messenger. Therefore I believe that such a call would be more appropriate if it comes from the religious community, civil society or the people of Guyana in some structured and coordinated way.
Here is where I have somewhat of an issue with the religious community in Guyana. I think that the environment is both right and ripe for the religious community to show strong leadership, or rather leadership to say the least, in this area. The cries of the Guyanese people are loud enough. For example, as you listen to the political campaigns, what you are hearing are a lot of hurt people talking to a lot of hurt people… The hurts and pains are being expressed in such audible ways; in many cases, it is no longer subtle. My question is; what would it take to move the religious community in Guyana? That is the body corporate.
There has been some leadership here and there, or rather some talk but the fact that the cries are getting louder and louder, it means that what is being done is not enough. I am talking here about strong leadership! If these cries do not move the religious community, then what will!
Albert Einstein said that ‘a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels’. He further stated that ‘you cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war; and peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding’. Finally he said that, ‘intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them’.
Ben Okri, the Nigerian poet and author noted that, ‘politics is the art of the possible, creativity is the art of the impossible.’
I am calling on our creative geniuses in Guyana, with a new type of thinking, to help us to understand and appreciate each other and our beloved country better, so that we can achieve the impossible -‘ One People, One Nation, One Destiny’.
A colleague, Lawrence Lachmansingh and I have started to build on an idea for a reconciliation process and have been circulating it for comments. We would be extremely happy to share and facilitate a discussion on growing this idea with a willing group of persons from civil society.
Yours faithfully,
Audreyanna Thomas
