Dear Editor,
GHK Lall has written an excellent letter on social cohesion. I too would like to add to the discussion (‘Is social cohesion really desired?’ SN, September 5).
We will have social cohesion when we respect the rule of law. We will know that we are one people and one nation and we will have confidence in our one shared destiny when we know and see for ourselves that nobody is above the law – no president or former president, no politician, no friend, nobody.
We will have social cohesion when we respect one another’s inherent dignity as human beings. This is perhaps a good moment to remind the members of our newly elected government that this applies equally to them as public servants. They have a responsibility to set and meet high standards of courteous and professional behaviour ‒ including responding to letters in a timely manner and managing their time properly so that they are punctual for meetings and functions, and the Guyanese people, who elected them and pay their salaries, are not kept waiting. Being courteous costs nothing but it contributes to a change in the culture of respect for others and it builds social cohesion one encounter at a time.
Social cohesion does not depend on public servants alone. We also must show respect for one another. How much daily social interaction becomes hostile as a result of the stress caused by noise? It is disrespectful to inflict noise on people who do not want it. Those who need perpetual entertainment or who are afraid of peace, quiet and the sounds of nature can get what they want simply by putting on their earphones. All it takes is a little consideration.
Edmund Burke, the 18th century Anglo-Irish statesman considered that, “Manners are of more importance than laws. The law can touch us here and there, now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarise or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. They give their whole form and colour to our lives. According to their quality they aid morals, they supply them or they totally destroy them.”
No amount of projects, conferences, initiatives, strategies, plans, policies, codes of conduct and other well-meaning interventions will bring about any improvement in social cohesion unless we first learn and practise basic good manners.
Yours sincerely,
Melinda Janki
