Dear Editor,
I thought that the incendiary Chris Gayle-Ramnaresh Sarwan dispute was over. But the May 16th BBC’s online edition had a caption, `Chris Gayle stands by insults of Ramnaresh Sarwan on controversial video’ which relayed that the anger and bitterness still raged at fever pitch. I wish it were otherwise, done differently.
I wish that, as we remain terribly bogged down in elections controversies of our own, someone from the vast local literati crowd would have summoned the courage to say a word or two. Not to take a side that, most likely, runs deeper than any of us could ever know, but for the public denouncements, some would categorize as the railings, of the Jamaican legend. I wish that some here, who know the man himself (or both of them), could have had the strength to say on whatever channel normally used: not this way, bro.. There is a better way, a more civilized way that rubs nose less in the dirt, and which gives both parties a chance to walk away with specks of dignity intact. Ease up, a little; let it go. Step back and be the sporting statesman stature-maybe, national statesmanlike figure that has been earned, but now somewhat tarnished for not one, but another confirming outburst.
It is too wounding. Like the impasse in Guyana, solves nothing, proves nothing, and heals none. Both men have contributed enormously to the record of achievement in this sport by the region, and to our slowly recovering pride. But here it is that we are at war with ourselves. More accurately, Mr. Gayle is at war with his wounds that still fester so much that he resorts to the all too familiar. I know that feeling well; for having been wounded by the sting of betrayal, the first impulse is to deliver the most crunching blow, to set the record straight. Sometimes, we get too good at such malevolence, no matter how justified. I know that, too.
It is why I could counsel, having been there: let it go low, then let it fade into the oblivion where it belongs. Let the other man and the other side continue with what is negative and self-defeating, what only drums up more rancour and despising; as is said rather blithely: whatever floats the boat. After a while, a man usually gets tired of fighting demons, whether they exist or not; be they creations of his own state of mind: his fears, his urges for defensive actions.
As I read of and listen to this fratricidal fusillade, I am worried on another note. It is one that I wish I could spare my fellow Guyanese, but I cannot. Here it is that we have a storm that drains the spirit of our pastime, a storm that engulfs two sons of this Caribbean soil, and none here has the courage to take a stand and call the situation for what it should not be, by how it is handled.
I say that Chris Gayle, who I do not know other for his larger-than-life presence and illustrious contributions went about this wrong way. And so delivering, he keeps going at it, which makes a bad situation worse than before. It looks terrible; sounds worse. It is more than the sum of both. I will never know if the reluctance to speak out publicly is due to the ethnic construction of the parties. But I do know this, no matter how much Mr. Sarwan did err and fall short, however he measured up to those other choice invectives selected and hurled by Mr. Gayle, he now has very little on which to do some personal recovery, to restore some personal and professional reputation. And I must bring in another element too: surely, we as Guyanese are not at this rock-bottom as to any residual balance? Not so much to defend, for I do not think that we can so engage; but in how much we can lend of ourselves, through our voices and convictions, towards bringing together, with a greater good in mind.
When the voices that matter, that could make a difference shrivel into silence, then the barbarians take over and the rest is lived with in regret and the shame of our hesitancies. The public Gayle-Sarwan ugliness is also, in some respects, the unspoken of and unapproached story of Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
