Dear Editor,
I wish to express my appreciation for the complimentary remarks and invitation extended by Mr Annan Boodram of Caribbean Voice in his letter of 21st July in the Stabroek News, in the context of the ‘debate’ on rum and alcoholism, etc (‘Letter on alcoholism referred to all alcoholic drinks, not just rum’).
While I unconditionally applaud all efforts to minimize the negative fallout from alcoholism, suicide, domestic and other forms of violence, I firmly believe that the chances of success in remedial or corrective actions are greater, if we work at the grass-roots level where we can more effectively ‒ as indeed I have been trying to do for the longest while ‒ help to minimize the incidence and the problems.
Unfortunately, I see overt public postures like the “Candlelight Vigil” in the same vein as the ‘beam of the torchlight’ pointing to an ‘unreachable’ target; I prefer the more reachable, ground-level ‘concrete beam’ on which we can walk together towards pragmatic solutions. Furthermore, we need to guard against providing convenient alibis for premeditative crimes and the so-called social pathologies.
Yours faithfully,
Nowrang Persaud
