Reach out and touch an untouchable

Mar 02, 2011 Features / Columnists, Stella Says

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Imagine the gall one must have to fence an area designated as a playfield in a neighbourhood. Imagine the sense of entitlement one must feel to declare ownership of an area that belongs to the children. Imagine the absolute disregard for others to simply decide one day that you want a piece of land that belongs to everyone in the neighbourhood. This is exactly what an “untouchable” has done in the Better Hope community.
I truly detest bullies in all their forms – like insecure wife beaters, government officials gone wild and the rich who walk on others to get what they want. My mother was the one who taught me to stand up to bullies. Once when I was little, there were some boys bullying my brother (who was a year younger than me) and my mother yelled at me for not stopping them.
My mother told me that if it happened again I was to “pick up a 2×4 and start swinging.” Sure enough, the next time that group of boys came to bully my brother, there just happened to be a nice piece of wood lying by my feet. I picked it up and dared any of them to touch my brother. They all backed down.
I do not know what makes a bully tick. I cannot understand the mentality of a person to want to cause harm to another person. However, I do know two things for sure: 1) I am positive there is something depraved in the makeup of a bully, and 2) I refuse to sit by and remain silent when I see a bully in action. My mother taught me better. Edmund Burke said all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. I emphatically insist the same notion applies to women. Gender does not determine courage. Take for example Marcelle Joseph, the woman who has taken a stand against the systemic bullying entrenched in the current administration.
Now there is one courageous woman. She has shown far more bravery than all of the MPs from the opposition parties put together. While the opposition parties may be all mouth now, there was nothing but spineless silence for the better part of the last five years while the people were brazenly bullied by their own government.
The true character of a person comes to light when they are challenged with the responsibilities that come with money, power and prestige.
To make matters worse, the bullies are not just those in office acting like they are college frat boys instead of adult leaders; the bullying extends to their privileged friends as well. The result is adolescent antics such as gunplay at hotels, illegal fireworks for birthday celebrations, reckless driving that maims fathers as they walk on the street and the fencing of property that belongs to neighbourhood children.
Bullying can most often be solved by standing up to the bully. For example, why allow the fence this bully built around the playfield in Better Hope to remain standing if it is indeed illegal? If that person had the audacity to fence the area, why not get the neighbours together, to take the fence down and put the material in the front yard of the bully?
On the way to that bully’s front yard, why not also take down the barrier he built across the street preventing access to three quarters of the street on which he resides? The longer this bully is allowed to do as he pleases, the more his sense of entitlement continues to grow. If that sense of entitlement is challenged, the bully might throw a tantrum (as most juvenile personalities will), but he will think twice about pulling another stunt like fencing a playfield.
According to Wikipedia, bullying is a form of abuse. “It involves repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one person’s (or group’s) power over another person (or group), thus an ‘imbalance of power.’ The ‘imbalance of power’ may be social power and/or physical power.”
Wikipedia’s definition continues, “Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation. Bullying can occur in any context in which human beings interact with each other. This includes school, church, family, the workplace, home and neighbourhoods.”
As an interesting side note, there is a strong link between bullying and suicide. Is it any wonder that Guyana suffers from the highest suicide rate of any South American country? Guyana is a country ruled by bullies and, sadly, some can see no other means of escape than to kill themselves. The bullies must be taught a lesson.
The very idea that an entire society has a group called the “untouchables” because these people can do whatever they want to whomever they want and not face the consequences of their actions is simply indefensible. It is a clear demonstration of the blatant contempt the leaders of the nation have for the people they are sworn to serve.
Guyana needs more people who are willing to stand up to these mean bullies. It is time to touch the untouchables. I know it is scary to take on bullies. They are full of threats and they are capable of hurting others in a myriad of ways. However, my suggestion is to gang up on the bullies. Not physically, I am not condoning violence, but get a group of people together and make those bullies back down.
Gather the neighbours, find police and magistrates who are courageous to help if needed, make a lot of noise in the media (send me an email and I’ll join in the effort, too) and do whatever it takes to make those bullies crawl back into whatever hole they climbed out of. Money, power and prestige do not give anyone the right to harm others.
Email:  StellaSays@gmail.com

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