Dear Editor,
As I observe the swirl of developing postures and positions, I think that it is timely for this country to be put out of its misery through the introduction of something radical. Patriotism should be identified as a national heresy, and its claimants outlawed and banished to expatria. Let it be part of promised constitutional reform, and thus put an end to this perpetual fooling of self and countrymen.
Time and again, the election process and results evidence that voting, with minimal exceptions, is purely racial in nature. For too many the racial rhapsodies are irresistible and responded to in kind. This is telling enough, but there is more that impales and injures this society, and it must be asserted might just be beyond the curative.
Citizens vote race and hunker down in anticipation of victory of their own. Then, in the next heartbeat, they make solemn pronouncements of allegiance and support when the other side emerges triumphant. Some may laud this as reconciliatory; I recognize this as rank opportunism and the apex of a quadrennial self-deception, and the deceiving of the larger Guyanese citizenry. Forget about whom I was loud and immovably associated with yesterday; this is who I am today. Tomorrow could well reflect still another political reincarnation, if the circumstances so warrant.
How can anything be built, trust developed, and confidence solidified when men keep all their options open and fluid to respond to the developments of the day, if not the moment? There is the native astuteness, the individual creativity to flow with the political winds wherever it blows. That is, until the next ethnic election exercise. This chronic deception, in a village society, leaves nothing on the table, or heart, for country, its plight, its possible progress. There is no giving; it is all about gaining, personal gain. Without a doubt, this identifies very closely with what went before, and with those who helped themselves immensely, at the expense of this nation.
Men are grounded firmly in the raw and rank opportunism of the present, while already manoeuvring into influential presence for the future. Amidst the tempestuous fury of domestic political waves, feet seek purchase in separate boats. Heads I win, tails I win again.
Patriotism cannot thrive in such barren, worm-infested soil. The few self-sacrificing are overwhelmed by the wide front tsunami hurtling over the seawall of forlorn hope, and of guarded visions of what could be, of what might be for suffering brethren. There is only what is there for me, my pocket, and my projections of me.
It is for these reasons, and then some more, that there is scant comprehension, growing impatience, and zero tolerance for those who speak from both sides of their mouths simultaneously, who have a ready song to fit any self-serving occasion. This is so practised that many, too many, are really good at it. They know that they are transparent, but have no qualms about discovery; it is just the way things are.
It is why I say let there be a cessation of this talk about patriotism and the sacrosanct character of its presence. It is just not there for too many, and it hurts wider society. Let the focus be on the business of self, the business of money, and the business of unmatched hypocrisy now such an integral part of the national psyche.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
