Dear Editor,
A letter in the Stabroek News of the 8th May 2017 on the subject ‘Few innocents in the combat zones that are Guyanese roadways’ made me recall two articles previously printed in our daily newspapers. The first is one titled ‘The absolute need to raise all standards’ by Ian McDonald on 27th November 2016 and the other was by Frederick Kissoon in 2015.
I am going to address Dr McDonald’s concern about the need for life (in Guyana) to be more cultured and the need to ensure that the levels of depravity and bitter shame do not overwhelm us. I came upon a programme on 8th February, 2017 relating to an address by Republican Governor Matt Bevin of Kentucky.
Firstly, he stated that the people of Kentucky must be the best version of themselves so that Kentucky as a state could become the best version of itself possible. He further initiated an extended standing ovation for a letter written by a custodian (charwoman) Ms Judith Cummings who wrote explaining how important she considered her job to be. The Governor pointed out that it was indeed a very important job where the trash from a day’s work in school and other workplaces, was disposed of so that others may have a clean environment the following day. He added that as a youngster he worked in such a job with his father. Following that intervention he asked for applause for the Kentucky and volunteer firemen who assisted in extinguishing the fires in 39 of the 100 other counties a few months ago. Governor Bevin stated further, that at his bidding the education system in the state would shortly be introducing two subjects to the curriculum viz, Civics and Fiscal Management.
It was very coincidental that on the matter of taxes to reduce a huge deficit in the state’s pension plan, $38 billion, he declared that the tax net would be considerably widened. He said that a number of sacred cows would surely be turned into hamburger meat in order to reduce the budget deficit. He reiterated the invitation that those Kentuckians who had bright ideas to convey those to him by email, which would certainly engage the attention of his staff and himself. He waved a sheaf of letters which he had received including one from an opposition Demo-crat. He asked Kentuckians to spread the contagion of enthusiasm.
Editor, there is much more to the address but I found it relevant with regard to the rampant lawless vulgarity and indiscipline which has plagued our dear land for decades and there seems to be no abatement in the march to total chaos.
If one were to start at the level of childhood, one could enquire how a nine-year-old boy allegedly gets into such a rage that he kicks a ten-year-old girl who succumbs? As a youngster many years ago you were warned against using your feet as a weapon as it was unbecoming, and you were told the old wives’ tale that it would eventually rot. Old wives’ tales stood a number of us in good stead, but a proper upbringing in great measure been lost in the culture of unreserved rapaciousness, without the attributes of etiquette, social graces and decorum. I doubt if any mother in our day could have accepted a male child of hers or any of his friends mounting her steps with his shorts exposed above his pants waist as a mode of dress. Being polished could be described as coming from good stock and having an admirable bearing. There were our parents who went up to eighth standard in primary school, and did not have the benefit of a secondary education, yet they strove to meet the monthly high school fees for their children to strive for upward mobility, and tried to ensure that they did not run afoul of the law.
Editor, a now departed Programme Director and broadcasting icon of a stature we have not seen since, stated that yesterday’s mediocrity is today’s excellence. If a personage of Rafik Khan’s calibre had graced our present-day broadcasting arena we could never have had the public expression of vulgarity which adorns Guyana’s media outlets, especially the entertainment component. Even when we had vaudeville shows at the cinemas featuring Sam Chase, Jack Mello, Sam Dopie and Madam O’Lindy, such entertainment was not laced with the confrontational gibberish blasted over today’s airways.
Editor, I recall tramping behind steelbands in the company of ‘Pinky’ and ‘Spanky’, two senior scholars of Bishops’, as well as Eddie who eventually became Deputy Secretary General of Caricom, and Charwin who later became a Permanent Secretary. I swear that the vulgarity, debauchery and bacchanalia which attend the so-called music of today did not raise their ugly heads in those days.
In those days there were terms which described the men and women whose demeanor was considered socially unacceptable. The men were called ‘kangalangs’ and the women were described as ‘viragos’ or ‘tantorioes’, and were regarded as being cantankerous.
A good gauge of the decadence into which we have descended is that since the staging in 1970 of the Legend of Kaieteur with music by Phillip Pilgrim and words by AJ Seymour, we have not seen music of that level written in Guyana. What a lift such would have given after almost 50 years to our Jubilee celebrations? Our history is rife with folklore to provide the basis for such compositions. Where are our financial supporters of the performing arts? The Ministry of Culture has failed us miserably for a number of decades in the area of serious music.
How often in those decades gone by have our Ministers of Culture or Education taken time off on their visits overseas to spend time at the Lincoln Centre, Carnegie Hall, Covent Garden, Place Maria or a Broadway theatre? Are they not appreciative of such entertainment?
A former Commissioner of Police when chairing an anniversary celebration function of QC at the Cultural Centre, was loud in praise of a classical rendition performed by a student. He had remarked that he was then convinced that the future of QC was in good hands. Has the ministry only been concerned with the gyrating Mashramani parade? Even so Editor, where are the marching bands consisting of colleges, high schools, YMCA, YWCA, St John’s Ambulance Brigade, majorettes, Red Cross, Girl Guides, Boy Scouts and the Coops on national days? Surely such a makeup would be a better reflection of our society as a whole.
I was amazed some nights ago when a Minister present at the launching of the National Road Safety programme for 2017-19 spoke about the installation of road speed bumps and pedestrians crossing the road in a diagonal line. May I tell the esteemed Minister that I could attest to the rank indiscipline of road users when they seek to avoid speed bumps, even if these are extended onto the parapet, and regardless of the direction of their travel. Even a policeman driving a Force vehicle in responding to a domestic matter, confessed when accosted that he was trying to avoid an extended speed bump and he was on the south side of the street travelling east. People, including schoolchildren, are unaware of the rule that where there is no pavement they are required to walk on the right hand side of the road facing the oncoming traffic, and school teachers are in some measure delinquent in this respect. My experience in walking correctly on a street without any pavement and bending the elbow to point the direction of intended crossing ‒ the shortest distance between the two sides ‒ meant I was regarded as a loony and invited the comment, “You is a traffic cop?” Such piffle. Did one not say that things have been wrong for so long that what is right now seems wrong?
Why is it that one cannot enjoy the peace and quiet of one’s neighbourhood without the blaring of horns and loud so-called music from the turned-up volume in cars whose owners want attention. That, in addition to the repeated use of the F-word at every twist and turn.
Dr McDonald spoke about basic civility between neighbours and I have to empathize with the mother on the East Coast Demerara who raised the matter of the stench coming from a neighbour’s chicken pen which resulted in her daughter suffering a health problem. The environmental officer refused a comment from a news reporter. Tell me, where does that mother obtain any redress?
Editor, a number of our Guyanese spend time in Georgia and could confirm that one can move about without hearing the honk of a car horn, even if one is hesitant to move off when the red traffic light changes to green. Do you know what happens in Guyana?
Finally, what makes we Guyanese what we are? Is it a lack of basic education and/or logic? Surely we can undertake to be the best version of ourselves in order to make Guyana the best version of itself. Didn’t the lady on a TV programme on Sunday evening speak about Rights, Responsibilities and Enforcement?
Yours faithfully,
Aubrey Alexander
