Ways of Looking & Feeling

We now mark the fifth anniversary of this column in this exemplary, nation-defining newspaper, and it’s been an inspiring, beautiful journey.

We experience life, see our days, hear emotion and meaning when we interact with others, according to our presupposition, that unconscious window through which we see the world, each person’s point of view unique, each one’s frame of reference of a different shade than any other.

Our nation’s main wealth lies in the human capital of Guyanese; the skills, talents, knowledge, energy, initiative and creativity of each individual.

So easy it is to fall under an oppressive cloud in this society, focused on inconsequential stuff, ignoring the beauty of our human potential.

Word on the streets is that people across this nation react with caution and pessimism to the political backdrop existing in the country.

When we think of the enormous sacrifices and hardships our foreparents made to carve this blessed land into the Guyanese nation, we ought to hang our heads in shame at the way we insist on being as a people of the 21st century global village.

Guyanese now span the global village. We’re a global people, a 21st century nation in every sense of the word, with our homeland nesting comfortable, peaceful, pastoral, forest green, sunny yellow, multicultural, between the giant Amazon and the gigantic Atlantic.

Life happens, lots of time unpleasantly. The nature of the world we live in, and human nature itself being what it is, we face all sorts of challenges, problems, setbacks, upsets, frustrations, disappointments.

We straddle South America and the Caribbean, this Guyanese nation, blessed beyond measure, able to make a dynamic contribution to the global village, positioned to play important roles in shaping regional affairs.

Words shape space. This idea of space we tend to limit to the physical, but space includes the virtual and intangible, such as social space, and psychic, emotional and spiritual space.

We want conversations that inspire us. Nothing so transforms one’s day as engaging in conversations with people in our social circle that move, inspire and lift us, nourishing the spirit, filling the soul with a sweet taste.

In the midst of that crass plosive pessimistic passiveness that drowns out any kindness, goodness, friendliness, professionalism that remains in our society, there’s one Police Officer you could turn to for prompt service in Georgetown.

Guyanese worldwide achieve amazing feats. This aspect of our nation, this ability to rise to world class achievement, we fail to celebrate.

Yesterday marked the 28th year since the Guyanese nation experienced the sudden demise of its first Executive President, Forbes Burnham.

We excuse away the way we are being with vague, abstract generalizations, brushing aside, for example, our lack of powerful performance with the notion that we’re a small, weak, undeveloped nation.

Who makes a real difference in society? We look to politicians, as if they possess super-human powers, and when they fail, when Parliament descends to a crassly quarrelsome, strife-ridden place of inertia, we lament and moan and become disappointed.

How could we cultivate and foster goodwill in our nation? We see each other through broken lenses of distrust, suspicion and across divides.

We face two possible futures: either the default future we stumble into, or a created future we design and shape.

Our role as Guyanese prepare to usher in a Guyanese Knowledge Society in this global Knowledge Age of a new global village interconnected through digital media is to cultivate the love for self-development in each citizen.

Guyana’s special landscape, its lush forests, rolling savannahs, white sand plains, vast muddy rivers and that yawning Atlantic Ocean lapping at the edge of Georgetown, plays a role in shaping the individual Guyanese.