Was Guyana ever great? It is evident that we have been working on our plot to achieving greatness. Sane and innovative we are, but also mentally unstable and adverse to change. Our potential cannot be measured, but where we are today reveals that our methods thus far have been greatly flawed and failed in many instances.
Was it ever great? Millennials (Generation Y) and Generation Z might especially ask that question. Those who grew up hearing about the Burnham days and about flour being banned; about lines for food and fuel, but also, about Guyana being the breadbasket of the Caribbean and how the man was a genius ahead of his time.
And perhaps even the generations before, Generation X and the Baby Boomers, who were there to see Guyana become independent and a republic, may also ask the question. Grandparents, old aunts and uncles used to talk about the ‘good ole days’. When pennies and dimes had value in Guyana and food was so cheap like it was almost free. They talked about the 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s when one’s income could have been less than a hundred dollars a month and these folks were able to purchase homes, feed and adequately clothe themselves and their children, find time for leisure and still had money to save. But inflation happens and now even a minimum wage of $70,000 is inadequate.
They used to also talk about discipline. Children had respect for their elders. The lawlessness that is a norm these days seemed rare listening to their recollections; the case where the young man assaulted the young woman in the school last week would have been unlikely to happen or the parent assaulting the teacher. Parents back then seemed to have largely supported practices, such as the use of wild canes, tamarind rods and belts to beat/discipline their children to keep them in line in schools. Nevertheless, events like the racial disturbances in the 60s and the Rupunnuni rebellion of 1969 also happened. They are two examples of why we need healing.
Still, according to some recollections those were thought as some of the glory days; a fit and proper British Guiana and then Guyana which was progressing and the envy of the Caribbean.
Over the years I have heard some say if the queen of England still ruled us, we would have been better. I have no respect for those who choose to remain the servants of the colonizers.
Some went to live under the rule of the queen, some to the land of the free and home of the brave and some to other places. The many who left these shores to seek a better life, the mothers and fathers of barrels and remittances, if it was great, why didn’t they stay?
Still those children who spent pennies and dimes and were disciplined by any adult who saw them misbehaving are big aunties and uncles, elderly and many dead, and I wonder did those methods shape them into well-balanced people? Or did they appear to do so because of fear and illusion? Yet, they would have raised the generations that raised the generations of today. Was it not their duty to ensure that the generations after them were emotionally stable and more evolved than the last? Are we?
So, how do we make Guyana great…again? How do we build that greatness she has had glimpses of at different periods in our history and fuel our collective advancement? Like the spirit of our ancestors who pooled and bought villages and developed their communities. The spirit of entrepreneurship and that of hard work. The spirit of pride. They did all that bearing the scars of slavery and indentureship. They were plasters on those wounds, but some never quite fully healed. How do we heal our people? Without healing, regardless of how many advancements we make, our society will continue to suffer from the way many children are disciplined and raised to our adults, many of whom are afraid of confronting their hurts, and about being honest about how the past still greatly affects us.
The parent who barged into the school last week and assaulted the teacher can be seen as an embodiment of collective frustration and emotional difficulties here. The parent was since interviewed and she has claimed that her children were being abused by teachers. She said there was a long period of complaints and no justice from the school. Her assault on the teacher is being represented as the culmination of a long period of frustration. After the incident, the children were turned away from the school, she said. We should not deny children an education regardless of the actions of their parents. How is Guyana great when children are made to suffer because of the actions of the broken adults?
The root of our problem is the failure to make progress on the healing we need. There is also our distrust and disrespect for each. We define insanity here. Over and over again talking instead of acting, committing to the same process over and over again when it has failed us before; we are reactive instead of proactive and watching greatness tease us from somewhere almost out of sight.
Guyana will be great when our people are healed and reconciled; when we abandon practices and behaviour patterns that undermine our social stability; when children are nurtured as they should and not traumatised by their parents and teachers. Guyana may be great when every Guyanese has access to a livable wage. It should be great when whoever governs relates to all the people, listens to all the people, understands the needs of all the people and is sincere about working to help all the people realise their full potential. It will be great when citizens do not have accept mediocrity as the standard and be told to live with it. In 2019, we are still dealing with inconveniences like blackouts and sometimes unreliable water supply. There are poor services all around. Banks, government agencies, businesses, frustrate and continue to further injure and anger the people. Have we ever been really great?
