Dear Editor,

Very interesting and insightful, the comment from one contributor to the item about Mr Murray’s experience at the hands of intruders. Part of the comment was “Guyana needs more people like him to help guide the young wayward teens of today.”  How true.

A few years ago I saw an American television documentary about an inner city youth-and-hand-guns problem, which seemed to have grown out of control. The authorities became so concerned that they invited community leaders to put forward ideas for a possible solution.  Acting on this, prominent members of the community, including youth club and welfare work-ers, school teachers, and people from the business sector, came together and pooled ideas.  They decided on a series of community-based meetings; guest speakers would include ex-prisoners, some of them now leading successful lives.  They hoped the ex-prisoners would be able to dissuade the youths from pursuing a life of crime, eventually ending up behind bars.

At one session, to a transfixed audience, a serious, burly ex-prisoner − not unlike ‘Mr T of the A Team’ − painted a very vivid picture of his personal experience of life behind bars.  His closing sentence was:  “Bear in mind, one day you’ll come face to face with a giant of a man with hair growing down the back of his neck, and when he fixes you with his mean stare and says ‘Come here,’ he don’t mean to dance.”
I don’t know what that did to those youngsters but, by Jove, it frightened me.  Perhaps Guyana needs such sessions to “guide its wayward young.”

Yours faithfully,
Geralda Dennison