Dear Editor,
I wish that I had better to project, but this country has a hard dark future ahead. When anyone with a sound extrapolating mind examines the currents just below the surface, there is only recoiling in horror at what lurks. What else can there be, when the character and corroborating conduct of those who aspire to have another go at the helm are scrutinized under an unforgiving microscope.
Look for self-centred ambition that encourages trampling upon anyone and everything, and it is there in spades; it is of power pursued by any means. Think about a willingness to embrace and partner with all that is destructive to the interests of state and people, and there is such, too. This is part of now undeniable history and obvious from the electric anticipation that bubbles forward through a kaleidoscope of colours. It is the jaundiced colouration of more division; it is the unique colouration of returning to more of the dirty currency that sickened this land; and it is the peculiar colouration of vaunted comrades in protected habitats engaged in actual and latent criminality. They are still there; some in all manner of disguises, and many a bureaucratic nom de guerre. That this land has spawned and nurtured such people and such a sprawling environment is now incontestable.
But those are mere smidgens of the negative externalities that have injured society grievously. As if the leaders are not terrible enough, followers have been imbued with the same treachery of vision, practice, and deep in the core. Believed bright and thoughtful men, albeit less than a handful, have sacrificed mental independence, ethical cleanliness, and any spiritual idealism just to belong, to be accepted, and to remain in good graces. Within the inner circles, there is the tense streamlined hearth of political brotherhood to suit the whims and hubris of the local cult leader. In this arena of muted fellowship, once sturdy men are silenced, sidelined and suppressed. It is an emasculated group of hangers-on dedicated to what is wrong for this society; to what is known to be toxic, if not lethally so, to progress, to uplift; and to rapidly diminishing probabilities of resurgence to power.
In their place, I would not be comforted by either thin demographics, or the sharp histrionics of temporary sentiment. There are larger pivotal forces arrayed, which will be the crucial difference maker. Internally, there are men (I behold no women) who could have been agents of change. Could have been… They certainly have the cerebral element, though they have long since been gutted. These few have been reduced to absent distant figures and soundless eyewitnesses to time and events; they are victimized and marginalized by the spiralling spreading contagion that is an uncontrolled and uncontrollable comrade. He will be the diminishment of them all. It is a bad place in which to be, when the same old roads are journeyed with alacrity, and promising crossroads beckoning are avoided or dismissed.
In the next instance, instead of dismissal of the emptyheaded, there is the surging presence of fawning nonentities and patented simpletons pretending at political depth and political wisdom. It is revealing how far a party can fall, how lacking in self-respect it can become. This is best left unaddressed, except for the emptiness of thought, and the shallowness of presence. Thus, there are these spineless mindless tenderfoots coerced into roles as cartoon characters by corruptible captains. They present a preview of the next generation of wooden political robotics ready to jump at any command. If this is liberty and democracy in action, then give me tyranny any day and every day.
As I peer beyond this generation, I am reminded as to why I envision troubling times for this land. Many of those pathetically grovelling at the behest of mad masters are relatively youthful; they have decades ahead of them to muddy further the already dank political waters, and to take this country into more dangerous territory. Decades represent an eternity for a place long savaged and laid low by one political barbarian and affliction after another. This will not get this country off of its knees; only extend endlessly the barren landscape, and the soulless presences at the top.
Your faithfully,
GHK Lall
