When boys cease being boys

Aug 29, 2010 Features / Columnists, My Column

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The August holidays are almost at an end. Children who felt that they had mastered the arts of the three Rs enough to take a break went off and did just that. Others went to remedial classes for a few weeks and the more affluent enjoyed a holiday out of the country.
These holidays were my favourite because they offered me the longest break away from school and books. It was during these holidays that I learnt to swim, catch crabs, hunt and do so many other fun things. I learnt to make things like tops and cutters or spinners and of course, play cricket and the other boy games.
They also provided me with a lot of experiences that stand me in good stead today. I became observant, actually figured out solutions to so many of life’s problems and explored the ways of the world. I made slingshots and hunted birds although I must admit that I did not have the guts of others to kill birds just for the sake of sport.
When school re-opened I had so many stories to tell, as we all did and we tried to outdo each other who were not in our neighbourhood. We were made to write essays about our holidays, calculate sums about spending money and travel distances, and we also were asked to share some of our experiences.
Just this past week I happened to look at the television and I saw that young boys do other things. Of course, I know about the young criminals who play with real guns instead of the toys and slingshots in my day. During these periods we were afraid to confront adults so we hid whatever toys of death that we had fashioned.
Things are different now. Boys do not play marbles for buttons; they do not play cricket as we did, travelling from village to village to confront other teams. So there I was looking at television and saw that two boys, none older than fifteen, had backed up an eighteen-year-old girl on the Coney Island Boardwalk, robbed her at gunpoint of a Blackberry and an i-Pod, and then proceeded to rape her.
I should not have been surprised. At that age the hormones are raging but there were those of us who not only respected each other, but we were so mortally afraid of the law, that we stayed as far from trouble as possible. Rape was unthinkable. But here were two boys who were not afraid to tackle a young woman in broad daylight at a public place.
The victim followed them, then went to the hospital who duly notified the police. I am aware that people are forming the view that the criminals are so much younger. In Guyana the police arrested some boys who were no more than seventeen for robbery and murder.
The people who attacked and killed five Kaieteur News pressmen were no more than boys. It is as if children skip the boyhood days and simply become adult as soon as they approach puberty. And the unfortunate thing is that they simply cannot reason. That phase of life that actually taught people to reason and to solve problems seems lost.
There is more. I could not help but notice that the young people also have no interest in the politics of the day. The various opposition parties keep carping on the past. For example, I still see writers talking about the Burnham years. No one who is thirty years old even knows about Burnham except through some anecdotal issues raised by their parents.
Those slightly younger don’t know Cheddi Jagan and there is hardly any teenager under fifteen who knows about Desmond Hoyte. Because of the press there will be those who know the other politicians. Bharrat Jagdeo is a household name because of his media exposure but should Donald Ramotar walk into a village hardly any young person would know him.
Back in school there was a subject called Civics. It meant learning about the national leaders and about the leading civil servants. I had to know who were the Commissioner of Police, the Speaker of the House, the various Ministers of Government and the other people who had a say in national life.
Today, even teachers do not know, because they do not consider such information important enough. I have gone to press conferences where even leading government officials could not properly identify the various administrative regions.
Is that an indictment of the political culture? I don’t know. Perhaps it is just that we are not keen to promote things Guyanese. I certainly did not know who Ne-Yo was until my friend, Nazima, informed me that he was male and a singer. But the young people surely know those things. It is in this direction they look because in their book, the world revolves around things entertaining.
Freddie Kissoon was angry at the extent of indiscipline exhibited during the recent shows. He spoke of people smashing barriers and robbing people. He spoke of people breaking into cars. His indignation could be understood. As boys and young men, if we went somewhere for entertainment, that was all we wanted.
Why this radical change? Life has become a rat race. It is no accident that the girls are more focused in schools and are wiping the floor with the men. It is no accident that those who do well are children who know about three squares and a snack while the laggards always wonder about the origin of the next meal.
Lateness is a norm; books are taboo and play is a foreign word. I still remember the days when the local grounds were packed at weekends with people watching the matches in progress. And I still enjoy the countryside where everyone says a greeting to the person he or she passes, even if that person is a stranger.
Perhaps it is Georgetown that is leading the collapse of the nation because all the leaders live there and perhaps these leaders simply do not care about the people around them.

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