A look at ourselves

In recent times, we have become familiar with terms like “fake news” and “alternative facts.” These are terms which originated in the United States of America and which have added to the asininity that we have been witnessing worldwide.

When we examine our Guyanese reality, we are confronted with evidence that many halfwits exist here. I usually refrain from negatively labelling people, because I generally try to see the best, even in the worst of people.

But how do others see us? Are we respected by the rest of the world? We know that there are Caribbean islands that have often disrespected Guyanese. Barbados, for example, was famous for the bench where its immigration authorities would allegedly seat our people who visited their country to send them back on the next available flight. Many Trinidadians even today think the worst of us.

For many years, many Guyanese could not acquire travel visas because it was thought that they would go to countries like the United States, Canada and England and stay illegally. And yes, sadly, because many were seeking to improve their lives, this happened in many cases, even though I do not believe it is as prevalent now and is not the storyline of most Guyanese.