Dear Editor,
Recovery from the brutality and the psychological impact of 1492, slavery, indentureship, colonialism, falls within the domain of all Guyanese. As a matter of fact, are aggressors not also capable of remorse? Have we not also committed atrocities against each other? Do all peoples at various times and in various circumstances and ages, not act out of motivations such as greed and hatred and fear? And some feel shame and self hatred too? Do they also not harbour unconscious responses and need to help themselves out of the pain of remorse? And what is the consequence of all this subconscious thinking? Generally, we live at ease with people, foreigners and locals alike. It’s just that the narrative has not been upgraded and this narrative is what divides.
A secondary point that I wish to make is that we in Guyana are still living in a cocoon, and by being caught up endlessly in our squabbles, we tie ourselves into knots and fail to realise fully or fail to verbalise the universality and the seriousness of our problems – problems such as post-colonial struggles and race relations. Race relations afflict many nations across the globe, and this is not to forget other serious problems such as global warming, deforestation and the scourge of South America – the drug trade.
It is important that we start to see the enormity of the challenges which are facing us as a nation, and the visible and invisible threats within and without. These challenges are not simple, but neither are they intractable. We don’t need to follow the solutions of others; we need to find our own unique answers. These problems are quite solvable with the application of a lot more intelligence, unity and focus. And while we live in an internet age, where ideas proliferate like wildfire, let us construct our self confidence and our nation and let it be known, that the bell was struck here, that we struck the first blows here, that the spiritual and the psychological recovery from the twin evils of colonialism and slavery began here – in the heart of the tropical paradise of El Dorado.
We have much to gain by realising what we know, by restoring our self confidence, by contemplating the lessons learned from our conflict, and we can simply learn to stand up for ourselves instead of fighting and struggling so much. Love is the antidote that we need. It comes from the spirit of humanity that dwells in the hearts of each of us. Our journey forward begins by finding ways to end the fighting and the resentments. Resentment drives love and friendship out of the heart and fuels anger. Remove the resentment, and you might find that the love, friendship and goodness were still there all along and the resentment was just blocking it.
Moreover, fighting and struggle agitates the human mind and prevents us from thinking straight. How ridiculous is it that we want to end the mental slavery and we look everywhere, to everyone else but fail to look deeply within our minds? That is where the mental slavery exists. Who told us that we were not good enough? Who told us that we have to live up to international standards? What happened to just living up to our own standards? And doing our own thing like sleeping in a hammock under a mosquito net by the riverbed or a hut in peace and tranquillity? Who told others that we are their concern? And they need to educate us? Who blinded them with ignorance and greed? Where did all this nonsense come from? People who are religious and/or spiritual minded know the answer. Those who are not also know that it comes from within the human mind from a condition called ignorance. It is part of the human condition – what we have to deal with on a continual basis. Where do we stand? Which demons are chasing us? The more we understand ourselves and the problems facing us, the better the quality of our investment in the future generation.
The second assumption that I wish to challenge is the notion that there can possibly be a supremacy of suffering. The hard reality is that suffering is an aspect of life, hence there can be no supremacy of suffering. Even the wealthy suffer. Money, wealth, professional success and political power do not represent the antithesis of suffering. Suffering is a state of mind, it is a mental response to pain. Another person or group cannot cause us to suffer. We do this to ourselves. Our resentment of others causes suffering within our own minds. As we change our response to stimuli, the mental suffering changes or goes away. Is there a complete cure for this human malaise of suffering? I think our best bet may lie with improving our knowledge and deploying our intelligence. Surviving with dignity and peace in a world of ignorance requires tremendous intelligence; fighting, division, disunity dulls and distracts the mind and stunts the intelligence.
Whether the nation celebrates Arrival Day or Indian Arrival Day does not matter so much as the participation of everyone in some way, shape or form. There is much common ground in our efforts to rediscover aspects of our identity, to reconnect with our ancestry and ancestral continents, and generally to construct an identity for ourselves. We are all doing this – herein lies common ground and with this recognition comes that thing finally: our Arrival. Our mutual understanding of each other’s plight is part of our competitive advantage. We can relate to the entire globe with the full force of our diversity and our heritage.
And similarly, we can all identify with the message of Emancipation and turn out in our numbers and support and celebrate Emancipation in a big way in August. Emancipation is of course a synonym for liberation. And come September, it’s not only about Amerindian Heritage, but about the noble and wholesome Amerindian way of life and how we can deploy our unique heritage collaboratively in protection of our natural resources in a sustainable and effective way.
As Joyce Meyer says often: one cannot be pitiful and powerful at the same time. These are mutually exclusive concepts. We cannot want to cling to past memories and resentments and conflicts and hurts while being unified and living in harmony in the same breath. It’s a choice.
Yours faithfully,
Sandra Khan
