Trouble!? With Christmas? At Christmas time? Seriously? Yes!
You see friends, frankly speaking, this “season” is tailor-made to evoke and evince both the good and the worst in too many of us. And it all has to do with the attitudes of various groups to what should be a wholly joyous healthy festival of positive celebration. So what do I mean by “trouble”? Trouble with Christmas?
Well to begin with, the real reason for the season is submerged by too many negative distractions. Both the hardnosed Christians and Muslim, Hindu business persons emphasise money and materials at this time. So-called celebration of the birth motivates enormous uncalled-for “wants” – the want for a new household; additional unnecessary clothes and equipment; even irrelevant decorations; the “want” to please with fake speeches of “giving back” and once-a-year generosity; the generation of young people wanting what they don’t actually need; of course politicians utilise the “season” either to denigrate, glorify or boast.
Mind you it is not that this writer does not appreciate genuine instances where the Holy Birth’s anniversary stimulates some genuine joy and an interregnum of some goodwill amongst the more fortunate for the more needy.
The trouble with the season is the opportunity created for vendors to violate every municipal by-law existing for good order; “Christmas” emphasises that Georgetown is doomed as an orderly Capital Town; and the real trouble, perhaps, with today’s Christmas is that the period of the advent, the presence of both the Baby Christ and the adult who was crucified – – is largely absent.
Yet, the old-time spirit still dwelling within me tries hard to behold the good, positive qualities of the season wherein the very younger Guyanese can still know love and a little joy and generosity.
So? Happy Christmas ’22 and an even better new year. And allow these wishes and hopes to become reality for all.
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The (hackneyed) politics of the season
For politicians and those who are actually political pretenders, it’s business as usual or more so when a prolonged “season” provides for manufactured contention.
From work-places, streets and bus/taxi terminals to Party Headquarters and Parliament strategies are hatched to utilise the cost-of-living, social challenges, even race to foment national discontent and anxiety amongst our more vulnerable as well as those easily misled. Local and overseas activist-surrogates spout their parties’ concerns – real or manufactured.
The PPP government trumpets its on-going projects and “achievements” as if they were not elected to actually provide. The opposition preach about official discrimination, even racism. Of course the recent government employees’ salary-increases could have been more substantial and other forms of national relief must be dispensed. That’s what the opposition demands when out of government and in the midst of poor people’s “Chrismuss”, the Parliament attends to elections legislation as local polls loom after New Year’s Day and Mashramani 2023, who cares?
Not the “small man” at this time. He has been socialised mentally to attend to the traditional demands of “the season”. Especially if children are in the home with all their expectations of/for Christmas awaiting fulfilment. Conditions all ripe for politicians to exploit – often in a negative manner. Especially as Local Government elections beckon.
So amidst this 2022 “Season”, some concerned persons’ Christmas lists are being supplanted by an alleged contentious voters list. Ho-ho-ho.
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The Champion of Carbon Credits
In the midst of the somewhat rainy hurly-burly of Christmas preparations, the sober issue of much hope – Guyana’s sale of forestry Carbon Credits – intruded.
Think what you wish about former President Bharrat Jagdeo, he had the foresight to come up with his Low Carbon Development Strategy which was a bold but not-easily-understood concept. It entails using the economic benefits of Guyana’s vast forests by not cutting them down for their timber and other resources. The developed European and American world – guilty of polluting the planet with their industrial gases – knew that Comrade Bharrat was “ahead of his time”. Compensate me for not troubling my forests! Norway did! And even the United Nations recognised Mr. Jagdeo as an international Champion of the Earth.
Forget his politics. That was an achievement for this little, blighted, under-developed land. Now other forested places want to “follow-pattern” us.
As I listened to him over the last week-end expound on why Exxon and others will be paying us millions for our carbon credits to help keep part of the planet clean and pure, I was easily impressed.
Now I am still reading up on the criticisms being hurled against this imminent deal which will produce millions for us – including numerous first-people hinterland communities!
I’ll return to the criticisms after I fully digest them from our two leading newspapers – replete with well-meaning (?) knowledgeable critics.
For now: Congrats V.P. Bharrat and your government. Even if Hess could have done even better.
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Please ponder…
1) My heart was saddened to read of a little daughter discovering both of her parents electrocuted at Success E.C.D. Hope she’s being embraced by caring adults now.
2) I hope that our “installed, illegal, apartheid” regime of a government is planning additional emergency relief for us in Budget 2023.
3) Indonesia just banned any sexual relations outside of marriage! And unmarried couples can’t live together!! Ho-ho-ho.
`Til next week
