Dear Editor,
I’ve a dream that one day Guyana will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed ‘One People, One Nation and One Destiny.’
I’ve a dream that one day Georgetown will no longer be called the Garbage City but the Garden City. The sons and daughters of wealthy businessmen and politicians will be able to sit down together in the same schools and get the same education.
I’ve a dream that one day my five children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by who they know but by what they know. Guyanese will be more honest, righteous, truthful and trustworthy.
I’ve a dream that one day the country will not be known as a nation of corruption, bribes and lawlessness, so that I’ll no longer feel ashamed to tell people that I’m a Guyanese because of the negative ways in which foreigners view Guyana in general and Guyanese in particular.
I have a dream today.
I’ve a dream that one day the churches in Guyana will rise up and speak out against the lawlessness, spiritual and moral decline in the nation. Indians and Africans will stop being antagonistic towards each other and start loving each other.
The local Guyanese and diaspora will be united and no longer divided.
I have a dream that one day the wealthy (1%) will help the poor and oppressed to rise up from their poverty. The government and opposition will unite and work together to make Guyana a better place for all of the people, so that Guyana will become a developed and no longer a developing country.
I have a dream today.
I’ve a dream that one day GHK Lall will be the President of Guyana and more of the diaspora will return home. Then Guyana will return to the better country it was before independence. In addition, domestic violence will be eradicated, every rum shop will be closed down because alcohol is destroying the people and every drunk driver would go to jail.
I have a dream that one day every corrupt politician, police officer, magistrate, businessman, and religious leader would go to prison. The country will fix its security and electricity problems and the government and opposition will stop looking out for their own self-interest.
I’ve a dream that one day more of the members of the parliament will start caring and feeling the pain of the poor and oppressed; that the country will not flood every time it rains; that the children in the Northwest District will no longer die from waterborne diseases because of the rain; and the country will never again have black-outs and water shortages.
This is my hope. I hope to see a better Guyana, where people care more about laws, unity, ending racism, weeding out corruption and ending poverty, and that they stop paying or taking bribes.
As long as I live, I’ll never give up dreaming. I refuse to believe that these dreams can’t come true. I refuse to believe that Guyana cannot overcome the past dictator, Burnham, and the present dictator (PPP/C). If the Germans were able to overcome two world wars and Hitler and become a better country, so can Guyana.
I close with these words from our National Anthem:
‘Great land of Guyana, diverse though our strains/We are born of their sacrifice, heirs of their pains/And ours is the glory their eyes did not see/One Land of six peoples, united and free.
Dear Land of Guyana, to you will we give/Our homage, our service each day that we live/God guard you, great Mother, and make us to be/More worthy our heritage – land of the free.
Yours faithfully,
Anthony Pantlitz
