Revulsion, sorrow and shock. These were some of the reactions when a video circulated on social media this week of a man eating a decomposing animal. What a dismal indication of the penury that exists here.
Have you ever wondered about life experienced through an alternate reality? To be so detached from what is real and not, right and wrong that poison is seen as palatable and sorrows, and joys are indistinguishable? Some may argue that we cannot assess the collective struggles by one act of desperation by a man who is assumed to be mentally ill. But let us suppose.
Let us imagine that this act of desperation is an omen for this resource cursed land that greater sorrows are imminent. Perhaps it is a call to tackle the issues that have led to a citizen feasting on the entrails of a dead animal. Many of Guyana’s children are contaminated by the stench of death. It is not just that death is constant, and we often mourn our loved ones, but here is a place where dreams often die long before the energy returns to the ether. Here is a place where courage can be non-existent as we settle for the bare minimum that is given to us instead of fighting for what we deserve.
Still, here is a place where dreams are also realized. The courage to pursue our dreams and stand in the face of challenges exist here. Many Guyanese evolve to be the epitome of what the citizens living in a land of abundance should be. It is a place where we can also stand in the face of oppression and use our voices to demand justice and equality. But for how long must we continue to walk the roads of struggle? It is a minority that enjoy the best that Guyana has to offer, and all those faces are not Guyanese.
We are oil rich. The earth has given us minerals. The echo from beneath the ocean is loud and reverberates throughout the land, while the flare from the burning gas illuminates our skies and the faces of those who know the value of what we possess. We are a small nation with a wealth of resources far greater that some developed countries. So why are we in the predicament we find ourselves? Why are we witnessing the further decline of a society with a crime situation that seems uncontrollable and unfortunate events like a man falling to his death while working on a six-storey building under construction on Regent Street because what are building codes in Guyana? Or that Sharon’s Mall was burned even though the fire service arrived on the scene when there was only smoke.
The results of misery and poverty are evident here. The widening of the gap between the wealthy and the poor is not a positive for this country. It is not development if only a select few enjoy the bulk of the wealth while for the majority nothing much changes or their circumstances worsen.
Another oil discovery was made this week. The celebration by the average man has long ceased. I remember how first oil was celebrated. Pride led many to change their social media names to reflect that they were proud citizens of an oil producing nation. But it has quieted now. As we battle the pandemic and watch the numbers of our dead increase daily, the great hope that lay in oil for the average man seems to have dwindled. Could it be because they have not seen the rewards? Has the average man benefitted from the opportunities for investments? Are living wages finally afforded to all? Is the culture of living from paycheck to paycheck suddenly a distant memory? No?
Destitution has led a citizen to feast on death. Though rich nations often also ignore, or pretend the poor do not exist, or give them the bare minimum, such destitution should not exist here. In this land of plentiful where the earth is rich and there is no shortage of land for growing food, no man should eat the rotting flesh of a dog. Here, where the livestock roam the fields and feed the nation, no citizen should starve. The oceans and rivers give us plenty. Even foreign companies like Grandeast Seafood Inc. can set up here and export our seafood. The ordinary man can cast a net, let a hook into the waters or feel in trenches and be fed. But here a man was hungry and squatted on the road over the corpse of a decaying animal where flies had already begun to feast. Here many men, women and children are hungry as they are increasing complaints about the rising cost of living.
ExxonMobil announced another high-quality oil find at the Uaru- 2 well. It is another path to the realization of dreams for the beneficiaries of Guyana’s oil wealth. But is that you or me? Are our children’s names written on the billions of barrels of oil to secure their futures and their generations to come? Will the vision for the sovereign wealth fund be realized? Can the man so destitute that he would feast on the decaying entrails rise above his mental anguish, survive the poison that he has already ingested to walk in the wealth and abundance that is Guyana? Can every Guyanese be guaranteed the opportunity to build generational wealth?
We saw the sign ‘Good Hope’ in the video to signal the area where this act was taking place. Contradictions are prevalent here. Good and hope are in harmony with the elevation of human consciousness, but what was seen on that video is an indication of the lowest stages of human unconsciousness.
What is good here is everything that we have been given – an abundance of resources, talent and culture. We are free. We can rise if we choose difficult as the road may be. Hope is in the faces of our children who we hope would evolve with every generation. Hope is what saves many from detaching.
