Dear Editor,
Mother Teresa was a humanitarian. She chose to “serve the poorest of the poor and to live among them and like them.” She saw beauty in every human being. She, along with others of the Missionaries of Charity, strove to make the lives and deaths of those around them more peaceful and full of love.
Like Mother Theresa, I’ve spent many years serving among the poorest of the poor in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guyana. In Guyana, even though I can afford to live and travel in luxury, I choose to live among them and like them.
Editor, even though I can afford to buy a car, I chose not to buy a car and rarely do I ever take taxis but instead take the minibuses. I travel in the minibuses because most of the poorest of the poor travel in them. And since I want to live like them, I take the minibuses. Very few people with cars travel in the minibuses. Travelling in the minibuses is a challenging and daunting experience and it’s not for the weak or feeble.
For example, on the minibuses, I get treated like the poorest of the poor by the drivers, passengers and conductors. I’ve been treated like a “lappy dog” and have been verbally and almost physically abused.
And the music is so loud that I’ve to wear ears plugs to protect my ears from going deaf. And I dare not ask to turn the music down. And if I ask to turn the music down, I’ll be verbally abused or put out of the bus. My children and I have heard the most indecent language and vulgar music on the bus than anywhere else.
Why do I choose to live among the poorest of the poor?
First, I chose to live among them because it’s the best way to understand and reach them. Someone put it this way, “Our life is more powerful than our eloquence and wisdom. We can only give to others that which we have personally lived.
Men soon detect the professional talker and the unreal life.”
Second, I chose to live among them because I can speak with an authority born of experience, and help them heart to heart and hand in hand in ways living on the outside never could.
Third, when we live in luxury, we are unable to relate or help the poorest of the poor.
When we live in great big mansions and drive in Prado and luxury vehicles, we become indifferent to the needs of the poorest of the poor.
I’m recommending that the politicians move out of the mansions and move into Albouystown and Agricola. They should get out of the Prado vehicles and get into the minibuses so that they can be able to feel their suffering. The politicians need to live among the poorest of the poor so that they would be able to win the hearts and minds of the people.
Furthermore, those who are well off need to live among the poor so that they’ll know that we’re all in this together, and the poor will no longer feel hopeless or helpless. And we would no longer be indifferent to their suffering, which will help us to make a difference and lead to a change in their lives.
Lastly, living among the poor, we are able to feel their pain, walk in their shoes and weep when they weep and lift them up out of the valley of despair. By choosing to come down from our luxury, we are able to lift them up out of poverty.
Yours faithfully,
Anthony Pantlitz
