If we never stand for anything, maggots will be burrowing into our flesh before we realize we should have lived. What is a life that is soon forgotten? Our time here should be memorable so that our descendants see it necessary to pour libation in our honour.
The ones who recognize their purpose and live it are the most fortunate amongst us. They may be loud or silent, rich, or poor, but will leave an indelible mark on this world because they walked in their truth. In a world where chaos and misery abound, where voices are increasingly silenced before they can even speak and where the people do not stand in their power, hell occurs. Our skins are not scorched by fire but analyze the circumstances around our existence and ask yourself, could it not be much better?
In this land we call Guyana, this target of imperialists blissfully conning us, could life not be much better? In this land of gated communities and tenement yards, where the rich and poor must travel the same roads, encounter the same potholes, be stuck in the same traffic jams where irate drivers honk their horns, where we are burned by the same sun and flooded by the same filthy waters and the garbage around the city does not disappear because we consider ourselves to be cultured, could life not be much better?
There are numerous irritants that add to our suffering in this land of many waters. Like the water not flowing through the taps 24/7, or the low water pressure or the sometimes smelly and brown liquid we have to settle for from the Guyana Water Incorporated, which has been frequently announcing disruptions due to repairs and maintenance. There are also the blackouts in the middle of the night, leaving us hot and sweaty, or the scheduled outages that Guyana Power and Light proudly announces — we are expected to be prepared and accept it because this is Guyana, where regression is our progress. The internet and phone services may not always give us what we pay for. These irritating things that competent experts can easily fix seem impossible here, adding to the stress in this nation of potential where it seems we only learned to walk on two legs a few decades ago.
We are living under pressure. Besides everything that does not work the way it should, exacerbating the suffering of the people, glimpses of starving people in a rich nation are becoming more evident every day. But the cries are still not loud enough it seems. Will we realize we have died starving before we even lived? Will we continue to hush our voices and not stand for anything because of fear? Will we not care to stand with pride and initiate a revolution? Is it a symptom of the oil curse or the COVID crisis when plantain, a staple in most Guyanese households, is now selling for as much as $300 a pound? In the not-so-distant past, plantain would sell for as low as $60 a pound sometimes. People are also crying out about the price of fish. And cooking oil. And the black gold in the Berbice river. Everything is costlier now.
In every community it is imperative that we grow food. The Guyanese people have been given this land, rivers, skills, and perseverance so that no one should be starving for items like provision, fruits, and vegetables. We can grow them in our backyards. Some of us do not have backyards. Some are covered by concrete and tiles and the city is overpopulated and the buildings often too close. But where we have land, we can plant and feed ourselves. We can return to a system of bartering our produce in our little villages.
When we see them set minimum wage at sixty and seventy thousand dollars which is less than what many landlords are asking for one- and two-bedroom apartments, should the people rejoice? Isn’t minimum wage supposed to cover people’s basic needs? When the wages and salaries are exhausted in the first few days after being paid out, what must the people do until they are paid again? Beg? Steal? Or sell themselves? We know that poverty in Guyana will not be eliminated anytime soon. Will it ever? But in the meantime, we can feed ourselves.
Choosing to sit and do nothing, muzzled and waiting for the maggots to take you, is no way to live. Though the environment may not exist here for you to wholly stand in your purpose, if some of us make small efforts to change the culture of suffering in this nation, the collective will be strengthened. The poor cannot simply hope that their tears will turn to minerals or that an oil well will be discovered in their backyards or that they will win the lottery. It is sweet when we can survive on dreams and love, but we deserve much more.
I see announcements about economic growth and development. And Guyana on a list of places with the most oil reserves. I think about how some of our educated and skilled ones are working for less than the staff of fast-food restaurants in mother colonizing territories like North America and Europe. Some of us stay because we love our country. Some of us fear the unknown.
The wealthy ones meet in their cages hitting wine and champagne glasses and eating steak, often unconcerned about the condition of the majority. We do not envy the wealthy for riches gained honestly. Every man, woman and child should live in the wealth this planet has offered us for life is not meant to be spent in struggle. But the gap only keeps widening.
Our ideas of greatness often result in mediocrity because we accept it. Often the brightest bulbs are not the ones that illuminate our path. Even though in some instances the elitist bones in some intellectuals also make them unfit to lead when they cannot connect with the grassroots. But too often we have chosen shady characters to lead us. By their works we know them. We see shameful behaviours in our National Assembly. Narcotics trafficking, gangs and guns, unsolved murders when the killers are known, paedophiles being given a pass, rapists of the flesh and the country being defended by the benighted, discrimination and much more are all realities that are familiar to us, like the country is one big ghetto where anything goes. Is it?
Everyone will not stand on the protest lines to let their voices be heard or write letters to the newspapers, columns or on social media. Everyone will not take up leadership. But the least we all can do is to stand for truth so that in some little or big way we can be remembered for making the world a better place.
